Octal Game - the Eightfold Path
by Nullary Anyon
Summary: Eldritch abominations known as Septentriones were invading the Earth as part of the Octal Game. The unfortunate cast from TWEWY soon found themselves caught in the deteriorating world of an EVA-replica universe. Fighting their way out together with Hibiki and co., they would begin to realize that the world ends with them indeed.
1. Prologue (Rebuild)

Note: After a long hiatus, I have decided to continue on this project again.

1\. In a nutshell, the TWEWY cast is inserted in the DS2 scenario. On the other hand, the plot will be quite a bit more convoluted than just the Neon Genesis Evangelion copycat in DS2. Be warned that the plot will get much darker than both TWEWY (which is itself a very hopeful story) and DS2 (which I consider to be a horribly nerfed version of EVA). To elaborate, the characters will undergo major sanity slippage midway through the story. I can't guarantee whether this counts as out of character or not, but the fact is that the characters from both media are not explored fully. (Where's the sequel for TWEWY? I need the background stories for Neku and Joshua, or else I'll create their own ones from the SMT continuity and conceive my own EVA-esque dysfunction junction!) Also, its ending, while possibly happy, will be quite esoteric.

(A personal thought regarding anime DS2: If you are trying to make a whole plot reference to EVA, then why can't you learn more from it and make the plot seem at least less Deus Ex Machina-ish and Narm-ish?!)

(I am probably being both a Tsundere and a hypocrite here)

2\. This story will be allusive to quite a bit of media, but most notably to Puella Magi Madoka Magica – not that I think it's better than Eva (I don't really have a conclusive opinion on which of them is the more superior one), but simply because I can find better counterparts between PMMM and the story and between Eva and the story. Most importantly, I haven't watched EVA yet due to a lack of time regrettably.

(Note that they will only be apparent in the more recently written chapters, since the allusion is a relatively new idea)

3\. There will be minor shipping between NekuXJoshua, AlcorXYamato, HibikiXDaichi and JungoXFumi (?!). Note, however, that the shipping will be downplayed to subtext level like in PMMM (who said that PMMM is not about yuri anyway?) and Eva (if KaworuXShinji isn't meant to be one of the OTPs in the _official_ EOE 3.0). At its uppermost limit, it will be at a level similar to EOE 3.0 KaworuXShinji and Rebellion HomuraXMadoka.

4\. You may notice that my writing style has changed considerably between different chapters, especially between anything before Wednesday and after Wednesday. I am already trying to rewrite some of the earlier chapters to make it more consistent with my new style and the recently conceived plot development.

5\. All of the above words may be trash simply due to my amateurish writing skills. Allow me to state the truth that I am a prospective physics undergraduate with English as my second language and not a humanities English native. I have been writing this only for fun and for improving my writing ability English. I would be very grateful if you could pinpoint any spots for improvements here.

(That is, I am somewhat seriously considering taking either English or Japanese as a minor subject besides the standard Math/CS: English because this might help writing to the general audience, and Japanese because – notwithstanding the fact that I am writing a crossover fanfiction between two Japanese artistic works - Japan is the best country in Asia in terms of physics research.)

6\. The fiction will be updated _very_ slowly. My last few months in my senior year already crammed with activities and classes, and I don't realistically expect my undergraduate life to be idle. Expect an update frequency of at most one chapter per month if I am not overwhelmed with all sorts of activities.

7\. I recommend the following music as background musics for the following chapter. Some of them are allusive, and others merely because it sounds good. It's inconvenient for me to update the already published chapters one by one (not to mention the fact that has already deleted most of the earlier chapters), so I will just list them there until I (possibly) rewrite them:

WARNING: While the songs are not necessarily spoilers themselves, they may more or less hint at the direction of plot movement. Proceed with caution if you don't want to know that something whammy happen in a particular chapter.

Prologue: Connect (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=P8MRW2tRpjk

Sunday's Melancholy I: The Future Starts With You (Portal 2)

watch?v=XJIgHWnkcnA

Sunday's Melancholy II: Kings (Project K)

watch?v=lvKfihW7vxY

Sunday's Melancholy III: The Reluctant Heroes (Attack of Titan)

watch?v=HwW2_hkTQLs

Sunday's Melancholy IV: Tsumetai Heya Hitori (Project K)

watch?v=4Yafd1ufd_k

Monday's Calamity I: Smooth Jazz (Portal 2)

watch?v=MPxVMpeVRGI

Monday's Calamity II: Anima Mala (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=p4xSbSpR9j4

Monday's Calamity III: Puella in Somnio (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=cFQLWVl6-ws

Monday's Calamity IV: Sis puella magica! (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=btmSuNcxiIU

Tuesday's Degeneracy I: Krone (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=d10_sLHZNhA

Tuesday's Degeneracy II: Basileus (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=3RlTC1LfARU

Tuesday's Degeneracy III: Conturbatio (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=VSv72WXL4k8

Tuesday's Degeneracy IV: Hill Of Sorrow (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=28EHxPeNDag

Wednesday's Necrosis I: Gate of Steiner (Steins;Gate)

watch?v=WuvSzfaMXNI

Wednesday's Necrosis II: Believe Me (Steins;Gate)

watch?v=5rYI2eG3DuQ

Wednesday's Necrosis III: Unravel (Tokyo Ghoul)

watch?v=cAYxe6e9zrI

Wednesday's Necrosis IV: Glassy Sky (Tokyo Ghoul √A)

watch?v=1wx2nszS8LU

Thursday's Metastatis I: Morphogenetic Sorrow (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)

watch?v=EjQfY47pFNs

I tried to upload the link to the official version of the music videos that won't be deleted by the Youtube Police. However, some of them simply don't have one. I apologize if the link is somehow mulfunctional.

 **Prologue (Rewritten)**

Recommended background music: Connect (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=P8MRW2tRpjk

The promise that was long ago composed

Revitalizes, as my eyelids are closed

Against the darkness clouding my vision here

I shall, once again, be _connected_ to nowhere

 **Sunday, 10:00 am, 104 building, 0.5**

Humans excel at complicating a simple fact by paraphrasing it with a plethora of different words.

There is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It can be represented by three simple words - entropy never decreases (notwithstanding physicists' tendency to overcomplicate the things with multivariable calculus, information theory and black holes). Essentially, it says that the the universe is a disconscientious brat who can't tidy up itself and instead let itself go amok as time goes by.

Then there is the Anthropic Principle in fiction. No matter how improbable an event is, it must take place in order to set a fiction into action. It sounds innocent at first, but the unspoken fact is that plot-driving devices are most likely unsavory in nature

The most general statement is Murphy's Law, which is often put into this beautiful form: everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

But all of these have the same underlying message: if it sucks now, then it gonna sucks even more later on.

At this moment, Joshua could not discern any differences between the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Anthropic Principle and Murphy's Law.

"Let me recap whatever you've just said. You're saying that it's the Higher Dimension this time who wants to run the game once again by spamming all the Septentriones on Earth? After they had chastised me all year long for the unauthorized Shibuya's Game? And they're even forcing me to join this game as a human? It's interesting. Really, really interesting."

"That's more or less the message." the man named Alcor said. To say that he was a man was perfaps inappropriate. He was an albino with a particularly soft manner of speaking. His red-black striped cloth looked oddly out of fashion. Above all, he's not a man at all. He's the eighth Septentrione – the seven plus one Ursae Majoris stars that were going to invade the Earth as a series of Eldritch Abominations as if in a clichéd anime.

On the other hand, Alcor looked so awfully similar to him that he thought whether they could be two replicas of the same archetype. He imagined a name suitable for this prototype – Kaworu Nagisa sounded good.

"And you are going out of character by giving all of us the Nicaea app that's going to predict our deaths and summon demons to fight?"

"Yes. I don't think I'm going out of character, though. I just wanted to see what you can go – perhaps your Shining One also. Neku Sakuraba, yet another much valued player."

"Shining One, huh." He had to admit that the imagination residing in the soul of Neku was glaring. While he did not meet Neku after the game – Neku most likely would have burst out if they had met, and coming into contact with people in the RG was forbidden by the Angel's code anyway – he liked watching Neku. No matter what he was doing, be it hanging out with his friends made in the UG, mentally drafting a new artwork (Neku was inspired by CAT to be a great artist in the future long before the game), or simply resting, Joshua could feel the imagination overflowing in the mind of Neku like the rays of the sun. He knew that he was part of the reasons why he began to see gleams of hope in humanity – that was, before the HD decided to extinguish it anyway.

"But is there really no other Reason for this game?"

"I can't say no either… humanity is indeed degenerating at an unprecedented rate. Ever since the Yamanote Lockdown… that's also your Reason for organizing Shibuya's Game, right?"

The Yamanote Lockdown – termed as the Septenary Game by the HD – was the harbinger for the rest of the story (he remembered the Anthropic Principle again). It was an attempt by the HD to mitigate the Second Law of Thermodynamics, but Murphy's Law ensued. He witnessed all of that – he was some sort of player. Often times, when he was sleeping (though it should be emphasized that sleeping to a Composer is like honesty is to a politician - both are useful hobbies), the scenes in those seven days recurred to him as a nightmare.

"One final thought. Is there a name for the game?" Names were serious matters. Not only can they capture the essence of something, but they are also what make the modified object truly existent in our conception. Above all, he might need the name of the game to lodge complaints to the Ministry of Peace in the HD later on (whether they would deal with it seriously was another issue).

"There're no formal names, but let's see…The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Game in Human History is too lengthy, and Polaris' Game is too dull… maybe Septenary Game again for a game that runs for a week? No… it should be Octal Game instead, since the game lasts for a bit more than seven days. Seven is the number of change, and eight is the number of harmony. Even if things are in a chaos, they will eventually reach harmony again."

Things were coming in full circles. The Septenary Game took place seven years ago. He initiated Shibuya's Game when the chaos began to surface in Shibuya a year ago. The Octal Game would unfold mere hours later. And when the next Sunday comes, it would be exactly eight years since the Lockdown.

But it was a game that he nust participate in anyway. He didn't know what his feelings were – to atone, to finish his responsibility, to bring forth benefit to humankind…

He was wasting his vocabularies on identical concepts again.


	2. Sunday's Melancholy I

Sunday's Melancholy I

Sunday, 13:00, Statue of Hachiko

"Yo!"

"Over here!"

Neku quickly walked towards Beat and Rhyme, who were waving their hands towards him. They were hanging out again. Their outfit hasn't changed except that they were all wearing their pins from the game. After all, besides combat uses, the pins were also good accessories.

"Where're Shiki and Eri?" Neku asked.

"Bro, don't think of the girls only!" Beat exclaimed.

"They're buying some snacks at Sunshine over there." Rhyme, in contrast to her agitated brother, merely calmly replied to the question.

"Neku!" Shiki, still hugging her own stuffed cat and holding a cup of hot minestrone, and Eri, relishing over her OJ, walked out of Shibukyu Stationside and greeted Neku.

It had been a year after Shibuya's Game. Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme, with their friendship formed in the game, decided to hang out every Sunday. Eri originally was not part of it, and she did not have any doubt over Shiki's resurrection, since the memories of people in the RG were automatically correctly when she revived. However, when she saw how Shiki changed abruptly from hanging out with her to doing so with others every Sunday, her curiosity drove her to ask Shiki about her new friends. Then, Eri decided to hang out with her together and was quickly integrated into the team with her outgoing and cheerful outlook.

"Neku, how is your artwork going?" Shiki asked.

"Quite good. I am progressing, and it should be ready to submit in a week. How about your fashion design competition? "Neku replied.

"Oh! We got the second place, and you know what? We received a one-year contract with D+B! It is all thanks to Shiki's amazing sewing techniques!" Eri exclaimed.

"And your design too. Without either one of us, we could not have succeeded. "Shiki praised Eri.

"Here it goes again! Don't always focus on the two girls! "Beat got agitated again.

"Fine, fine. How are your skateboard lessons going? " Neku could not help but respond to Beat.

"It's good. I am now ready for the competition next week!" Beat got excited. Although he went to skateboard lessons to deceive Rhyme about his ambitions at first, he gradually developed an enthusiasm to skateboarding, and now was really hoping to be the best skateboarder in the world.

They then noticed Rhyme, who never spoke, and realized that such conversations on their dreams could hurt her. They had forgotten that her ambitions and dreams were taken away as the entry fee of the game. She once hoped to be a rock singer, but while she still had the memories of her band, she could not feel any ambition in it anymore. At a sudden, they did not know what to say.

"It's fine. I still have you, Beat. "Rhyme tried to reassure the group, being aware of the strange silence in the group, and knowing that it was because of her that they fell into such awkwardness.

Shiki quickly found another topic to discuss, "By … by the way, have you ever heard of Nicaea? Eri introduced it to me, and now all my classmates are talking about it! It is a so-called dead face delivery website, and is rumored to send you the face of your friend when he dies! Creepy!" Shiki talked energetically.

"No," Neku replied. He was not a hardcore trend follower.

"Nicaea? Beat told me about it, and we both have it installed. However, I don't really hope it works… It is a bit too scary…" Rhyme replied. Actually, she tried to remove this program, but the program refused to be uninstalled. She did not raise this weird phenomenon because she did not want to disappoint her brother that she does not like the app he introduced.

"Hey sis, don't make a fuss over it! Don't you find it interesting?" Beat tried to reassure his sister, albeit ineffectively. He installed this app out of curiosity at first, and also introduced it to Rhyme. However, he gradually became scared over it, and also attempted to remove it in vain. Of course, he would not admit that he is scared – how was he supposed to face his sister afterwards?

"Anyway, give me your phone," Shiki almost ordered Neku to do so. Neku knew that once Shiki insisted on something, no one could stop her, so he obediently handed his phone to her.

Shiki then downloaded the software, photographed Neku, and performed all the registration procedures. When it was done, she handed the phone back to Neku. They were about to find a place for lunch when –

"A new 'dead face' clip has been uploaded!" The voices of Tico from the five friends' phones overlapped with each other. Neku quickly opened his phone. On its surface were shown:

Dead face Shiki Misaki

Dead face Eri Komaki*

Dead face Daisukenojo Bito

Dead face Raimu Bito

Dead face Yoshida Kiryu

He immediately opened the death clip of Shiki. In the clip, the ground was shaking, and Shiki and the others were struggling to stand straight. People were screaming and running all around. Suddenly, the building of Shibykyu Stationside collapsed, crushing all the people.

He then went on to survey the death clip of Eri. The scene was almost the same. The same went for Beat and Rhyme. He went to the last death clip, the clip on Yoshida Kiryu…

"Wait! Why his name appears here? " Neku's mind almost exploded upon the sight of this name. In his mind were countless feelings: joy, relief, anger, doubt, fear, remorse, nostalgia… He did not know what to feel upon seeing this name.

He opened the clip. The scene was, again, the same as the other four's. "Why would he appear here…"

"Neku… Isn't he you? And others, too… I thought this site is just a prank…" Shiki came over and showed him his death clip.

"Yes… And you too, here… Want to leave here?" Neku replied.

"No need. Escaping is futile, at least for now," an unexpected voice came behind the group.

Neku and the others turned around to see a figure he expected the least to see: it was a boy with short silvery hair, wearing a white shirt and black jeans, his hands put into the pockets on his jeans. Neku could recognize him immediately by his characteristic smirk. He, Shiki and Beat were all shocked to see him here, while Rhyme and Eri were simply confused over why they are so surprised, since they had not seen Joshua before.

"J-Joshua! What are –"Neku did not have the chance to complete the question. The ground began to shake, and people were screaming and running all around. He tried in vain to stand straight and run away. Neku thought he saw Joshua chuckling in the exact manner when Joshua shot him in the game. Suddenly, the building of Shibukyu Stationside collapsed, and –

Author's Note: Eri's last name was never mentioned in TWEWY, so I made up one for her. In case you wonder where this last name comes from, it is from Midori Komaki, a character from _Devil Survivor_


	3. Sunday's Melancholy II

Sunday's Melancholy II

It was a complete void. Neku expected to find himself on the Scramble Crossing or elsewhere crowded for the Reaper's Game. But it was not. He was floating on nowhere. There was nothing to be seen. Even the feeling of time and space was fading.

He tried to recall what happened. The building of Shibukyu Stationside collapsed like in the death clip, crushing the six kids there – to be exact, five kids and a Composer with his age unknown. "But what was Joshua doing… Could he be setting up another game for his pleasure? That son of a bitch! But no… there was his death clip. Was he … dead? Then what will happen to Shibuya..." he found himself caught in the turmoil of thoughts.

"Thank you very much for using Dead Face! Obviously, at this point, you are going to die. But if you want, I can just give you just one more everybody's chance to live. Would you like to keep on living, yes or no?" The energetic voice of Tico, so cheerful that it sounded frightening given this environment, stopped Neku from thinking anymore.

He then realized he was still holding his phone. On the screen, he saw the familiar face of the Tico in bunny suit, as well as two buttons displaying "Die" and "Live". Without any hesitation, he chose "Live" – after all, he still has so many things to do, and so many things to say to Joshua.

"All right! Your desire to live has been confirmed. Thank you for choosing 'Live'! The 'Demon Summoning' app has been downloaded to your device. Good luck, woohee!"

* * *

Sunday, 13:10, Statue of Hachiko

Neku found himself lying amidst the debris of the building once known as Shibukyu Stationside. He struggled to push away the rubble and stood up.

He could not help but gasp upon seeing the surroundings. Shibukyu Stationside collapsed completely, leaving no trace of what it had been. Further away, at West Exit Bus Terminal, buses had crashed into buildings with their front stained red, crushing many people on the way. The entrance to Station Underpass was also covered with rubbles, and the ceiling had collapsed.

Looking north, Shibu Department Store had been covered with fire. Cadoi City, neighboring the ill-fated department store, was also no more. His eyesight ended at Towa Records, which was still intact, but the television screen on the wall was cracked and ceased functioning.

Turning to the west, 104 Building was undamaged, and the television screen was showing a piece of government announcement. People gathering there, all focusing on the screen.

"Hey, bro! Good to see you are okay!" Beat shouted to Neku. Next to Beat was Rhyme, who was also unscathed.

"Beat… it is good to see that you survived… Wait! Your head is bleeding!" Neku pointed out where his wound was. Fortunately, the injury was small, and the chance of infection was slim.

"Wait… I think I saw another survivor. You two, stay here," Neku saw that the rubbles several meters in front of him was moving, and went forward to inspect them.

He did not expect what he saw. There was a woman apparently dead, her left hand holding her phone with weird runes on its screen. He tried to inspect her phone, and he could see that the "Demon Summoning App" was being launched. He turned around, intending to notify Beat and Rhyme about this discovery, only to saw a dog-like figure with about the same height as a normal human, having a brown skin, wearing a piece of armor, holding a metal rod, and swinging the rod towards him. Out of instinct, he braced himself, and prepared to defend himself against the attack.

"Neku, watch out!" he felt he was pushed away. Joshua was struck in the place of him.

"Joshua! What were you doing? "Neku exclaimed, feeling guilty over Joshua.

"Listen. The creature in front of you is kobold, a demon. Use your "Demon Summoning App" to fight against it now! I cannot use it now, as my demon is still being downloaded. "Joshua was holding his left forearm with his right hand, and his expressions suggested he was in pain. His left forearm was struck heavily. Neku thought he could hear Joshua mumbling "That Alcor… Why didn't he speed up the download speed a bit … Now I was hurt because of the stupid slow download…"

He took out his phone and opened the app. However, it displayed "Download 21%." "Damn... my download was also not finished yet..." he said.

Just then, he heard the voice of a familiar girl, "what was that thing!"

He turned around to see the frightened Shiki and Eri, both holding their phones. Their phones both displayed the same rune as that on the phone of the dead women. In front of Shiki was a cat-like creature about the length of a typical woman with a pale skin and two tails. She had a purple, curly, shoulder-length hair, wore a yellow cloth covering only her chest and exposing her abdomen, and had a spherical bell on her chest. She was lying on the ground and swinging her tails lazily and seductively. Overall, she looked dangerously sexy.

The creature in front of Eri, on the other hand, was enigmatic. It was a stone about the size of a backpack levitating above the ground, except that it has the arms, legs, and face like a normal human. Its extensions were small, only as long as a pencil, and it wore gloves and shoes. Its face looked artificial like a mask, but its changing expression clearly showed the face was real.

"Those are nekomata and knocker… just use them to fight back the creature!" Somehow, Joshua was clearly analyzing the situation even when seeing all the demons, as though he anticipated this all along.

Nekomata and knocker then attacked kobold. The cat leapt towards kobold with the speed surpassing even a leopard, and hit it with her claws repeatedly and fiercely. Meanwhile, knocker created a series of green bullet-like structures and bombarded the kobold. The unfortunate creature was soon defeated and disappeared.

Meanwhile, Beat and Rhyme were already using their demons to fight – Rhyme had already comprehended the situation and was instructing Beat to fight. Beat's demon was a giant made of stone, its body unpolished and his "face," which was merely a combination of crests and troughs with no real difference in composition with his body, expressionless. Rhyme's one was a female spirit about the size of a kid with the face and legs of a bird. She was wearing a pink hood and a one-piece resembling that of a maiden, the part above her "waist" white and the part below green with a yellow stripe at the bottom. The stone giant lifted and threw every demon approaching, while the female spirit shot the demons surrounding with magic beams.

But even with all the attacks, demons kept appearing out of nowhere and surrounded the group.

"That's not doing any good… Run!" Joshua commanded. All of them then rushed towards Scramble Crossing and headed to 104.

* * *

Sunday, 13:17, 104 building

The trip was short, but when Neku arrived at 104, he could feel his heart beating in pain and his lungs screaming for breath. He almost fainted out of exhaustion, both physically and mentally.

He then saw Shiki and Eri approaching, also exhausted. Behind them were Beat and Rhyme, sprinting with their highest speed.

When all of then finally arrived, Neku breathed a sigh of relief, "all of you are safe… wait … where's Joshua?"

"You mean the boy with silvery hair? Could he still be caught between the demons?" Rhyme suggested with a look of concern.

"No… I have to save him!" Neku exclaimed and prepared to run back to the statue. In fact, even he himself could not understand why he suddenly had the desire to save Joshua, after all the things he committed and even shooting him twice.

"Stop!" Shiki grabbed Neku's right hand firmly, "what are you going to do even if you go there? We simply cannot defeat all the demons there, and we can get killed easily. I know you wanted to see him after the game, but please don't do anything reckless!"

"Ugh… I guess we should just wait here, then," he gave up his attempt to go back to Statue of Hachiko after thinking about the words of Shiki.

He then looked around. The television screen on 104 was showing a piece of news about the recent earthquake, which had stricken the whole Japan. Many people were dialing on their phones, while others waited anxiously. Near the station side, a teenage boy having black curly hair and wearing blue trousers and a white jacket with rabbit ears on the hoof was talking to some officials, but whatever he said did not seem to be entertained.

"Rhyme, our parents are safe. But what the hell was this "Demon Summoning App" anyway? Kishin Ubeleres… what the hell does that mean?" Beat said in confusion while fiddling with his phone.

"You are pronouncing it wrong. It should be 'Kishin Ubelluris.' I think we can summon demons to fight for us. Anyway, that should do it for now. What's your demon, Neku?" Rhyme asked, also studying the new app. It said "Fairy Kikimora."

"My demon is still being downloaded, "Neku replied. He could not understand why only he and Joshua faced such download speed problems.

"My family is also safe. How 'bout you, Shiki?" Eri asked.

"My family… I cannot contact them…" Shiki suddenly said apprehensively.

"Anyway... waiting here doesn't do anything. I guess we should all go back to where our parents live," it was a long time before Neku finally broke the silence.

Almost instantly Neku received a message. It says:

Dead face Yoshida Kiryu

His friends gathered and saw what message Neku received. Apparently, the only friend Joshua had was Neku, so the others did not receive his death clip.

Neku opened it, while the others watched it intently. It was the Tokyo tower at night. Joshua, in the midst of a crowd, was standing next to a creature beneath the tower. It resembled an ice cream, with an inverted multicolored cone about a meter tall at the bottom and a pink hemispherical cloud resembling cotton candy on top of that. The cloud was about the size of a car with holes all around it. The cloud started inflating, and white light was coming out of the holes. Some of the crowds were trying to escape, but Joshua carelessly tripped and fell to the ground. He could not stand up against the flow of people, and was stomped by the fleeing crowd. The light from the creature grew bright and brighter, and the cloud inflated larger and larger to the size of a truck, until it finally exploded, the flame engulfing the remaining crowd, including Joshua.

"No… that can't be… I am going there to save him!" Neku was seized by the desire to save Joshua again suddenly. He did not want to admit that, but deep down his heart, he had already somewhat forgiven Joshua. Moreover, he actually enjoyed being with Joshua during the second week of the game. Although Joshua was always teasing him and trying to embarrass him with his romantic remarks, Neku could feel that their minds were somehow connected to each other's.

"If you are going, then I will accompany with you. It's too dangerous to hang out alone in this situation, especially considering that you don't have a demon yet. Besides, my parents work in Yokohama, so I can't go to see them with such heavy traffic anyway. I'm worried about my families, but it doesn't seem I can do anything right now. Friends support each other in theirs time of need, right?" Shiki decided to accompany Neku almost instantly.

"And if Shiki is going, then I am also going. Although I don't know Joshua, as you call him, I can see that he is important to you. Also, do you know how to go to Tokyo Tower? It is quite far from Shibuya, so let me guide you there – you do know that I live in Minato?" Eri followed suit and agreed to come with her best friend.

"Don't think that you can go without me, bro! It isn't like I care for the boy, but I can't leave you behind!" Beat patted Neku's shoulders.

"And I will follow Beat. He is too dumb to be an actual help, Teehee!" Rhyme was the last to agree.

"Rhyme! Don't talk about me like this!" the dramatic reaction of Beat somehow lightened the atmosphere of the group. The others were smiling as if it is still a normal Sunday, when they would hang out together happily.

And so the quintet decided to head to Tokyo Tower to save Joshua unaware of the grave danger awaiting them.

* * *

Author's Note: You are correct if you think that the demons summoned by the TWEWY cast are stronger than the DS2 cast. It is because all of the TWEWY cast, except Eri, participated in Shibuya's Game, and grew a lot in it. Remember that the stronger you are, the more powerful your demons will be. That's also why I gave Eri the weakest demon, knocker, as she was not in the game, and also why Rhyme's demon, kikimora, was weaker than those of Shiki and Beat, nekomata and ubelluris respectively, as she did not complete the game.

P.S. By strong and weak, I refer to the base level of the demon in the DS2 game. Knocker is level 7, kikimora is level 9, nekomata is level 19, and ubelluris is level 20. And by the way, just for comparison, Daichi's poltergeist is level 1, Io's ogre is level 8, and Hibiki's byakko is level 53.


	4. Sunday's Melancholy III

Sunday's Melancholy III

Sunday, 19:00, Tokyo Tower

It took the quintet more than five hours before reaching Tokyo Tower.

At first, they hurried, almost ran, to their destination. However, when Rhyme noted that the death clip took place at night, they then realized that there was no need to hurry. Therefore, they then slowed down their paces, took a few rests, during which Neku explained to Eri and Rhyme who Joshua was, and even stopped once to fill their stomachs.

Beat and Rhyme also shared their new discovery - they tried to form a pact to fight against the demons appeared before when the kobold attacked Neku, but the pins couldn't do any realistic damage, so they gave up. All of them sighed when they found out that the pins they always carried with them were useless against the demons.

When they reached the Tower, the sun was already setting. The sky was stained blood red, and the threads of clouds, dyed in a brilliant orange, were swirling chaotically. The remnants of the sinking sunlight cast the shadow of the debris once known as Tokyo on the ground, only adding a sense of melancholy to the devastated city. The peaceful days were gone once again, and disaster awaits the whole world. Somehow, Neku couldn't help feeling that it was the sunset of humanity.

Then, he saw Joshua standing by the tower, his hand smoothly moving over its metallic base, as though he was examining it. The orange sunlight glowed softly on his silvery head, like the halo on saints in medieval paintings. Blocking the sunlight, his body is only shown as a contour to Neku. This reminded Neku of the Joshua when he was "sacrificing" himself to protect Neku against the "Level _i_ flame" of Sho Minamimoto during the game – his hands stretched out, the dazzling light of the attack illuminating his body as though he was entering the heaven.

Upon seeing his dying friend, Neku at once rushed to him. The others followed.

"Joshua!" Neku exclaimed. He did have the thought that he could not see Joshua again, so seeing he was safe really made Neku relieved.

"Huh! So we meet again even after going that far away. What a coincidence! Or, is it our bonds that connected us and guided you here? Oh my, I cannot imagine that our bonds are so powerful!" Joshua teased Neku as always, complete oblivious to his imminent death.

"Now is not the time for random flirting! You are about to die!" Neku quickly pulled Joshua away, the holiness he just felt about Joshua completely evaporated. Neku did not know whether it was a good thing to see Joshua in his normal state. " _Must…not…strangle…him…he…is…already…dying…"_ Neku had to control himself not to lose himself.

"What? You had my death clip?" The expression of Joshua immediately tightened. Even he was alarmed by his death.

After dragging Joshua away for some distance from the tower, Neku quickly described the death clip to him.

"That must be Dubhe… We have to run!" While Neku did not know what 'Dubhe' was, Joshua's words escalated his alarm. "If Joshua was alert to something, then it must have been really dangerous," Neku learnt it during his week with Joshua.

However, before they had the chance to move further away, an ice-cream-shaped silhouette appeared on the moon, which had just risen above the horizon.

"Damn it … it has already come… Neku, watch out!"

The creature, Dubhe, as named by Joshua, then descended to the ground, its impact so strong that it created a fracture stretching several meters long on the ground. Although Neku had already seen it once in the death clip, he was still intimidated by the sheer sense of power emanating just from the appearance of the monster.

Its lower cone was at the same time spinning and precessing like a spinning top, without any extra deviation of angle as it rotated. Its rotating speed was perfectly constant – 2π radians per second for spinning and 2/3π radians per second for precessing, if anyone could measure it then. The corners of its base were also perfectly level, and if it was put on ground inverted, all of them could touch the ground. The twelve rhombi composing of the cone were perfectly congruent, and the two pairs of adjacent sides had perfectly the same length. The power of god could not be demonstrated more wildly and conceitedly than through perfection ridiculous to men. Unfortunately, no one there, not even Joshua, could understand the hidden perfection.

The top cloud, on the other hand, was much more irregular, being designed for attack. It was a hemisphere, its center perfectly aligned to the axis of precession of the lower cone. However, the holes were irregularly spaced on it, and each hole had irregular size, shape, and depth, possibly as a result of the repeated explosion. Its surface was folded and wrinkled. However, such imperfection served only to give Dubhe an even more destructive-looking appearance.

The shock of the crowd when they saw the mysterious invader was apparent. Although most people had already seen wild demons, they hardly match the sheer power of Dubhe. Everyone's attention turned to the creature suddenly appeared. A dog hug by his owner abruptly jumped out of the embrace and barked at it. A girl presumably in primary school screamed and hid behind the back of her mother.

"Joshua, hold my hand!" Neku quickly decided this was the most effective way to prevent Joshua from tripping and took his right wrist instantly.

Then, like in the death clip, the top cloud of Dubhe started inflating. Bright white light was given out in its cloud like a disco ball. Some of the crowd remained immobilized out of awe or terror, while others fled away quickly. Neku and his company were caught in the escaping crowd. Fortunately, with the tight grip from Heku on his hand, Joshua managed to stand straight, and the group was pushed back by the crowd.

Then, Dubhe exploded. The light of explosion was so brilliant that Neku was blinded for a moment. Even though Neku and the others had already retreated quite far away from Dubhe, the heat was barely endurable, and he felt like his whole body was being baked. Neku tried to hold his breath so that he would not inhale the scorching air and burn his lungs, but he could still smell the barbecue-like aroma diffusing out from the source of explosion, and this made him nauseous. The shock wave from the explosion knocked Neku backward.

When the explosion ceased, Neku attempted to sit up, only to see a devastated view beyond the haze from the explosion. Joshua and the others were all knocked back in the explosion nearby. The crowd surrounding them already disappeared, and ashes could be seen all over the ground. The top cloud of Dubhe was gone, and the bottom cone was motionless. Neku could briefly see Ubelluris covering the group before the guardian was erased. Ubelluris was summoned out to protect the group as a last resort.

"Don't move! Dubhe attacks you if you do so!" Joshua gripped Neku's arm tightly, and all of them did not dare to move an inch.

Suddenly, the top cloud of Dubhe reappeared. It size was comparable to a bean at first, but it quickly inflated in just a few seconds back to its original size. Missiles were shot from the holes of the cloud at stunning speed and landed on the remaining crowd without an inch of deviation, creating a small explosion every time a missile landed. People screamed and ran, but none of them were able to elude from the projectiles from the monster. Within a minute, Neku's group was the only people surviving.

Then, Dubhe began to fire missiles around the group to probe its exact location. Every time a missile landed, Neku could feel the sheer heat emerging around him. " _This can't last much longer_ ," he thought.

"Quick! Summon your demons!" Joshua commanded. Shiki, Eri, and Rhyme immediately followed.

Nekomata leapt forward to Dubhe, evading the missiles swiftly, and scratched the surface of the cloud with her sharp claws. Meanwhile, kikimora and knocker shot force bullets to Dubhe from behind. Soon, the cloud was full of scars resulting from the scratching and hitting.

But then Dubhe launched its missiles again. Knocker and kikimora were too slow to evade and were defeated in a single blow. Nekomata was faster, striding around Dubhe and dodged all the attacks.

Nekomata then found a moment when Dubhe ceased its attack and jumped onto it, preparing to land a jump kick. But Dubhe was just luring it to do so – it immediately launched a shock wave towards the attacker, and then fired its missiles towards the undefended cat. Nekomata was wiped out quickly.

"Nekomata!" Shiki cried, foreseeing the imminent death of the whole group with no demons defending.

Dubhe then targeted the group with its deadly missiles and -

Suddenly, a giant blue magic circle appeared out of Neku. The magic circle was rotating, and dazzling light shone towards the sky. A strong gust of wind surrounded the cycle, and Neku had to struggle just to stand straight. His phone on his hand was running berserk, even giving out small sparks.

Slowly, a giant black wolf emerged from the magic circle, starting from his feet and up to its head. He was about three meters long and one meter high. Loose iron chains, supposedly used to entangle the wolf, were now merely surrounding his enormous body loosely. He was totally black except his eyes and nose, where blazing flames comparable to that of Dubhe erupted from. He stared at the moon and gave out a long howl, strong enough to shake the heart of Neku. If Dubhe is said to be an aesthetic weapon of perfection, then the newly summoned monster can be said to be an untamable beast of savageness.

Neku and the others watched in awe at the emergence of the demon, but Joshua merely smiled calmly, as though he expected Neku to summon such a powerful demon from the very first, "Beast Fenrir… Good job, Neku."

"Go and get Dubhe!" Neku ordered his new demon to destroy the invader.

Fenrir leapt forward, dodging all the missiles from Dubhe. Dubhe attempted to evade the swift attack of the wolf, but he immediately turned his direction of attack, and lacerated the upper cloud of Dubhe with his claws, first with his left foreleg, then with his right one. Dubhe attempted to force the fierce attacker away with its shockwave so that it could inflate itself to launch another explosion, but Fenrir could maintain his balance with ease and were only pushed away slightly. He then growled wildly and threateningly, and fires began to burn around Dubhe. Dubhe did not give up, and launched a round of missiles again, but Fenrir dodged all of them and landed a finishing blow on the persistent invader with his claws. Dubhe then annihilated, without leaving a trace.

But before Neku could finally relax, he saw a missile just a meter away from him, flying towards him -

Just then, a demon – or angel, to be exact – shot down the missile with a thunderbolt. He had the appearance of a human male. He had a green hair, and his face was transcendentally beautiful. Pure lights glowed from his eyes. His body was naked, showing his pink skin. He was levitating above the ground. He was leaning slightly to the ground with his legs curled up to his body. His arms were folded over his chest, and his left hand held a silvery horn. At the end of the horn was a white flag with blue borders and a blue cross in between. A pair of wings grew on his back. The feathers were orange on the outer side, and pure white on the inner side. The wings covered his body like a shell protecting its embryo.

"Hah… just in time," Joshua sighed in relief. With the threat gone, everyone finally collapsed out of exhaustion, both physically and mentally.

"W-what the hell you two summoned, yo man?" Beat was the first to break the silence. Not only Beat, but everyone else except Joshua was also amazed by the sheer power of the demons just summoned.

"What Neku summoned was Beast Fenrir, a giant wolf creature of Nordic lore and the son of the evil god Loki. According to the Nordic tale, he is destined to kill Odin at Ragnarok. On that day, his magical bindings will be broken and he will rise against Aesir in combat. And what I just summoned to save Neku was Divine Remiel. He was one of the seven archangels serving God, and his duty is to spread their instructions. The words he conveys appear as visions to people. According to the _Revelation_ , on the Day of Judgment, he knows which souls will be saved and which will be destroyed. His duty is to guide the souls that will be saved," Joshua said, like reciting a piece of tale. Neku knew that Joshua was very knowledgeable in virtually every field, but he did not expect him to have learned even the western God Tales. But that may not be too surprising – he was a Composer, an angel, after all. But others clearly did not expect this detailed answer, and struggled to find something to respond.

"Wait … what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be watching Shibuya? And why can you leave Shibuya, anyway? What the hell is happening? And how could you die? Why couldn't you use your angelic power?" Neku then suddenly remembered all the doubts he had, and began to bombard Joshua with all the questions. Not that he expected a clear answer, though – he knew that Joshua would most likely be beating around the bush.

"Calm down, Neku. It is too complicated for me to explain the situation in a few words. Put it simply, our dear God, Polaris, is playing a little game with the world. The world will gradually be swallowed by the Void in this week, and Polaris will be sending the seven Septentrions, one each day, to destroy any remaining life. Septentrions are angels that will attempt to destroy the world. The monster we just saw, Dubhe, was the weakest of them. The demons we just summoned were the only means to defeat the Septentrions. To add up to his majesty's entertainment, every reaper, including me myself, has already had his power taken away. Therefore, now, I am just a human." Joshua explained to Neku. However, Neku and the others, especially Eri, could barely understand what he was talking about.

Suddenly, strong flashlights were lit towards them. They turned around to see that they were surrounded by men wearing identical uniforms. In the middle of them was a man with white hair. He was slightly shorter than the men next to him, but his majestic aura clearly stated that he was the leader. His face was perfect without any defects, like an unapproachable god. His iris was violet, and his eyes were condescending. "Enough chit-chat. We are special government organization, the Japan Meteorological Society, also known as "JPs". Now you are being taken to custody," the men commanded.

The others were fazed by this command, but Joshua merely looked back with a smirk, almost having the same power as the man, "So you are Yamato Hotsuin, then? Alcor told me about you."


	5. Sunday's Melancholy IV

Sunday's Melancholy IV

Yamato tried to conceal his emotions, but his small mutter clearly showed his shock when the boy in white hair mentioned his name along with and the name of Alcor. Besides Yamato, the other crews were also shocked by how he knew the name of their chief, which was supposed to be a national-level secret.

"Who are you?" Yamato demanded a response.

"Yoshida Kiryu, or you can call me Joshua."

"So it's you… Kiryu Yoshida, the Composer of Shibuya and the mastermind behind Shibuya's Game, why are you here?"

"Haven't Alcor told you? All the Reapers are now resumed to human form for the trial of Polaris." Joshua, unlike the rest of the group, seemed all but surprised by the fact that Yamato seemed to know everything about Shibuya's Game. " _This is hardly surprising – Alcor may have informed him about the Game or even granted him vision to the UG. After all, he_ is _the ruler of Japan_ ," he thought.

"Hmph … so you already knew everything. Nevertheless, I would not care as long as your power could be in use for me." For the first time, Yamato turned to Neku and asked, "And you should be Sakuraba Neku, the proxy of Shibuya's Game?"

"Y-yes," unlike Joshua, who was totally unfazed by the majestic aura surrounding the chief, Neku was quite intimidated by it.

"And then," he turned to the remaining group, "You are Misaki Shiki, Bito Daisukenojo, Bito Raimu, and," he turned to Eri, "You were not a player in Shibuya's Game. Who are you?"

Eri were also slightly intimidated, but she tried to respond calmly and said, "Eri Komaki, the best friend of Shiki." She thought she could see Yamato smirked subtly when he heard the word "friend."

Just then, Beat shouted, "How the hell do you know everything of us?"

"Silence. I do not need any meaningless words from you," Yamato glared at him and said coldly. Beat was even more irritated, but Rhyme managed to stop him from bursting out again.

Yamato then continued, "The demons you summoned surpassed the power of our tamers. Even given your special background, such power should not be possessed by normal citizens. Tell me, where does the power come from?"

Yoshida calmly responded. "Haven't Alcor told you about the app? He is the very creator of it, and his aim is to help the survival of mankind." He could see Yamato clenching his fist.

"All of you here, except Komaki Eri, are the players of Shibuya's Game, and yield latent but considerable power. Especially you, Sakuraba Neku – you are chosen as the proxy of Shibuya's Game and just summoned Beast Fenrir. And you also, Kiryu Yoshida – although you are merely a human in this week, you still summoned Divine Remiel. I suppose all of you can appreciate the gravity of this situation now, and how your power can be used to fight against the imminent threat. Then, what are you going to do?"

"Helping you defeat the Septentrions, of course" Joshua responded without any hesitation.

"And you, Sakuraba Neku, and the others?"

Neku hesitated for a while before responding, "I-I need time to decide." Others remained in silence. Although Neku did not want to admit it, he was actually quite afraid of this fight-or-death scenario. Neky had already experienced this during Shibuya's Game; nonetheless, it was not enough to make him cast away of his fear completely – the shock from all the things happened today was just too powerful.

Yamato replied, "very well. You and the others will be escorted to the residential area of JPs' Headquarter. I will give you a night to think about it. Tomorrow morning, you should give me your answer. If you refuse to fight, you will be released; however, if you agree, then you will be under my command over this week. Allow me to warn you. The Septentrion you fought today was only an appetizer; their strength will increase exponentially, and death is highly probable, if evitable at all. Do you still wish to fight, then? I do not need wimps to fight for me."

Then the JP's personnel took the group to the JPs Headquarter by the cars of JPs. During the ride, Neku and the others could hear Yamato speak through his phone, "So another civilian summoned Byakko to defeat the other Dubhe in Shimbashi Station … What's his name … Hibiki Kuze … Bring him to me."

Sunday, 21:00, Tokyo JP's

After escorting the group to JP's, Yamato ordered another woman to introduce them to the JP's in more detail and left to do his work.

The woman was soldierly. She was taller than everyone else in the group, and stood as straightly as a plank. Her beautiful cobalt hair was neatly cut. Hints of resolute determination could be seen in her frigid, navy blue eyes. Underneath her creaseless JP's uniform, one could see her firm build.

"I'm Makoto Sako, the Operations' Commander. The Chief ordered me to introduce you to the JP's," the woman said monotonically.

"JP's is a highly classified government agency. Since ancient times, the JP's has been maintaining the barriers around Japan that protect the land. The barrier is a protection based on spiritual power. If it's not maintained properly, it could be easily invaded by a variety of enemies, mostly non-human ones, just like the demons you summoned earlier this day. I know it is hard for you to accept them, but they have existed since long ago."

"Although there has been multiple ways to summon demons since the ancient times, we have succeeded in decomposing the summoning rituals into computer algorithms, and summoned demons successfully with them. You are not supposed to use this demon-summoning app, which is a highly-classified weapon. Its origin is unclear, and we are still investigating it."

"Since the Chief said you know about the Septentriones, I would skip its details. For the meantime, please rest in the residential area and think about what you are going to do thoroughly,"

She left after guiding the entire group to the residential area. The floor was metallic, with pores in between, like the ones you would see in factories. The corridor was so long that one could not see its ends on both sides. Doors lined up on regular intervals. The walls were painted in yellow with wooden planks for support. Somehow the decoration and layout together resembled a prison more than a residential area. The group then entered their rooms respectively.

Sitting on the bed in his room, Neku was pondering over and over about what happened today. The views of the earthquake, the demons, Dubhe, and Yamato still lingered on his eyes. He found it impossible to sort out anything, so he decided to consult the issue with Joshua. He did not expect any realistic advice, though, knowing the quirk temperament of the Composer well.

The room of Joshua was next to his room. He knocked on the door and asked, "Joshua? Are you asleep?"

"Yes," Joshua replied hazily but loudly, clearly suggesting he was all but asleep.

Neku sighed. " _I should have expected this…"_ he moaned to himself. Then, he decided to ask Joshua once again, "Can I ask you something?"

"If you insist… fine. Come in, Neku."

Neku then opened the door, which did not have any security protection but a simple password identical to every room, and saw Joshua sitting on his bed. Neku then walked towards him, and sit next to him.

He literally growled. "Just what the hell is happening? What happened to you after the earthquake?" On other occasions, he would have a plethora of questions for this mysterious Composer like "Why did you choose me as the proxy?" and "Why didn't you erase Shibuya?"; however, at this moment, his mind was so preoccupied with the Septentrione thing that all the doubts were completely cast away.

Joshua grinned. "Well, if you are so curious at me, my dear partner. After we scattered in Shinbukyu Stationside, I ran away, but in a different direction from you. Only after a while did I realize that I went astray. I searched in Shibuya, but I couldn't find the smallest trace of you. Meanwhile, I found out that I could leave Shibuya, so I just wandered around and thought that we would probably meet each other again anyway."

"That's not what I meant! This situation is just … so hellish! It's a ton worse than waking up on the scramble crossing again to find myself in a game!"

"But, don't you think it can be fun? It can add quite a bit of excitement to our boring lives, can't it?"

"Gah… only a lunatic like you will consider this as fun! And why you even chose to fight, after all the nearly mortal dangers you faced today?" Neku wanted to punch his partner, but managed to calm himself down.

Joshua seemed to get more serious. "Calm down. I didn't expect you, my dear, dear proxy, to be so easily taken away. What else can you do besides fighting? The situation is dire, and sitting back can do nothing."

"… I guess you're right. All the things happened today were just a bit too overwhelming..."

"Now you are talking. I am quite confident on my fighting abilities, so you don't really need to care for my safety. What happened today was just an accident –"the loud punching of Neku to the mattress interrupted his sentence.

"You stupid, arrogant, pigheaded snot! Don't pretend like I won't care! You killed me twice and hid all year long… do you know how much I want to shout at you, after all the things you have done? Don't think that I'll let you die so easily! And remember that you are only a human now! Damn it…"

"So you are telling me not to fight? I thought you can understand that there are no other options except fighting."

"Before I was not so sure… but now, just fight as you please! Just…just don't think that you can die so easily… I will go with you!"

"And now you are sticking your nose into it? I have already lived for quite a bit of years, so I don't really care about dying now. But you are different; you are still young and full of possibilities. Your imaginations should not be wasted. I alone can handle the fight. I don't need you to –"this time, Neku really punched at the now human Composer. And it hit.

Neku got so angry at Joshua for a moment that he forgot the Composer had lost his power. He expected the Composer to dodge the punch with ease using either his clairvoyance or his superhuman reflexes. But now, the Composer was just a human, and the punch landed on his upper arm perfectly.

For a moment, both of them did not know how to react – both of them did not expect this sudden punch to hit. Finally, Neku broke the silence, "Can't you realize that you are not the all-powerful god you think you are? You just told me fighting is the only option, and now you are telling me to stay away from it? Don't be such a selfish asshole! Remember that I saved you! And don't think I meant to die in the fight!"

"Fine… I guess you are already stuck into it. I want a partner like you anyway, "Joshua finally stop arguing. "But remember, you owe me twice: one for asking me to talk with you, and another for punching me. I will find the best time for you to pay for this, okay?" Joshua giggled.

"…"Neku did not know what to respond. " _And now he is threatening me like this… I shouldn't have promised to fight with him in the first plase._ " he thought, trying hard to keep his temper so that Joshua could not find a third favor. With nothing more to say, Neku just bid goodbye to Joshua and opened the door to leave, only to see Shiki, Eri, Beat and Rhyme outside. All of them were startled upon seeing each other. Apparently, the four had been eavesdropping all along.

For a moment, all of them did not know what to say. Neku wanted to shout at them, but he couldn't bring himself to shout at them. It was Shiki who broke the silence. "U-um… We are just here like… we want to talk together with you about whether to fight, so we went to your room, but could not find you here. We heard some noise nearby and guessed that you two were arguing. So we waited here. It-it's not like something private is discussed, right?"

"It's all right, Shiki. We heard all of your conversations. So what I heard is that you two are going to fight the…er…Septentrions?" On the other hand, Eri frankly admitted that they were eavesdropping.

"Yes. " This time, Neku did not have any more doubts. "This sucks … but I guess I need to fight. Sitting here doesn't do anything..."

"You know, Neku just said he is going to fight for me, my dear!" The voice of Joshua suddenly appeared next to Neku. Joshua walked towards him when he was unaware.

"Whoa-hoo-hoo! I don't know you meant so much to Neku! You guys are… like, you ain't…" Beat said. He somehow considered the words of Joshua to be provocative in the wrong manner.

"I didn't know you two went like that! Did you meet privately in last year?" Shiki went even further.

"Huh? I thought it's you and Shiki who go together!" Eri said. This time, Neku and Shiki blushed, and the others smirked.

"Nononononono! It's not what you think!" Shiki shook her hands uncontrollably.

"Oh my, I didn't know that you already have Shiki. You can't betray your partner like that!" Joshua continued to play with the joke.

Neku could not endure it anymore. "Now look what you've done! I decided to fight with you only because you are so stupid as to almost die this day! Any more of this crap, and I'm leaving!"

Joshua finally gave up on his attempt to tease Neku. "Ugh, fine"

After a brief pause, Shiki gave her response. "Anyway, if you are going, then I will also be with you. We went through the game, right? Then, we can also go through this week, "

Eri immediately followed her. "I didn't join the game, but I guess I cannot back out while Shiki is following her _best_ friend. I will fight with you, Shiki." For the first time, she felt Shiki had really grown up to be stronger than her.

"And Beat and Rhyme, how about you two?"

Beat replied almost instantly. "You need to ask, bro?"

After a few moments, Rhyme also gave her response. "I will go with you, Beat. You are the only thing I have now."

Joshua sighed. "All of you do realize that the Septentrions are much more dangerous than all the threats in the game combined together? The game is supposed to filter out the strong, but Polaris intends to wipe out humanity. Their levels of danger are incomparable. Don't stick your nose into it randomly. The only one Neku needs is me."

Neku snapped out. "Shut up or I will leave."

Joshua challenged him. "Why do you want them to fight? I thought you don't want them to get hurt."

Neku hesitated for a few seconds, but he gave an answer soon. "Not like I can stop them, and I won't let them die so easily anyway."

Jushua gave an affirmative nod. "That's my Neku."

For a moment Neku could feel that the six were all partners. The feeling of partnership in the game was deep to him – two peoples staying close to each other, trying to understanding each other, and fighting back-to-back for each other's survivals. He had this unforgettable experience with Shiki, Joshua, and Beat. And now, he was going to have this relationship again, with all of them together. He felt like he couldn't afford to lose.

His mind already made up, he bid farewell to his partners and went back to his room to sleep.

He thought of all the things happened today: the earthquake, the demons, the Septentrions, Dubhe, Fenrir, Joshua, Yamato… While he had already decided to fight, he couldn't help shake off his fear on the following week. The demons were dangerous, and Joshua... he thought of the smile of the Composer, full of malice, when he was shot down. He did not know what he really felt to him. He felt a partnership towards him, but at the same time, he really hated this bloody Composer. He could not even understand why he was so resolute to save him against Dubhe and fight with him for the next week, now that he had the time to think about it deeply. It was long before he finally managed to fall into a shallow slumber.


	6. Monday's Calamity I

**Monday's Calamity I**

Monday, 09:30, JP's Secret Underground Train

"Why we go to Osaka? This place is…ugh!" The loud cry of Beat echoed in the large train of JP's.

"This is what Yamato ordered. Moreover, don't you think that going to another place you haven't been before can be fun!" Eri responded. In contrast to the grumpy boy, she seemed to be quite eager to the Osaka trip.

"Don't be afraid that you will lose your way again, brother-" Rhyme said jokingly, but Beat swiftly covered her mouth with his hand in a panic before she could finish it. "Waah! Don't say that!" The others giggled at his comedic response. They already know how much dark history Beat had through Rhyme's not-so-tight mouth.

"We have to find…um…Fumi Kanno, right? I guess there's no other option." Neku said. After expressing their will to fight to Yamato earlier today, he then ordered the group to find Fumi, the scientist in JP's in charge of the demon summoning and security system, who went missing in Osaka along with the emergence of Dubhe yesterday.

"I doubt Yamato send us here only because of Fumi. Maybe he is planning about something else, like the next Septentrion, hehe." Joshua giggled, his joy clearly written on his face. "Yet I also value this chance to visit somewhere else, especially with Neku, right, dear?" Indeed, being the Composer of Shibuya for the last few decades, he could not leave Shibuya for a time longer than most people can imagine, so he was more than happy to visit somewhere else.

"Now that you mention the next Septentrion…it is possible. However, let's just focus on finding Prof. Kanno for now," Shiki said.

* * *

Monday, 10:00, Osaka JP's Main Branch Underground Train Platform

The train finally stopped. Neku and the others left the train to see JP's personnel greeting them.

"You must be the support team our chief mentioned. Thank you for coming."

"Welcome to Osaka!" they turned around to an unexpected female voice, only to be surprised by what they saw. She was an almost nude girl. Her orange hair was tied into a long ponytail, adorned with a white lotus. Her blue rectangular glasses could not obstruct the energy flowing out from her orange eyes. Her outfit was almost like a stage dancer, with a snow white choker, a blue tie, a miniscule, leathery black vest only enough to cover her breast, two black shoulder-length gloves, a black miniskirt, and similarly black slippers. She was holding a long, pure white, silky cloth over her forearms and folding over her legs, adding a stroke of beauty to her. Her voice was also strong and powerful, but unlike the condescending tone of Yamato, she sounded friendly and enthusiastic. Her lips curled upwards in the most natural way, and one could see her pearl-white teeth aligned without a single void. However, despite her warm welcome, the entire group, except Joshua, blushed over seeing her voluptuous body.

"So you are the Tokyo summoners? We're waiting here for you!" she said.

"It's quite interesting to see you in such an outfit. I've seen quite a lot of people in Shibuya, and none of them were like you." Joshua said. "Of course, it is meant to be a compliment, hehe."

"It's just too boring if I look like just another OL everywhere in the street, you know? Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hinako Kujou. There's supposed to be another fellow summoner, Keita Wakui, but he just ran away to fight on his own. He doesn't seem to be particularly scared of this situation, huh…"

The whole party then introduced themselves.

"Although other teams have already seen Prof. Kanno's lab, I'll just take all of you there once again." Hinako said.

* * *

Monday, 10:45, Abeno Ward

Hinako ushered the whole group to the lab of Fumi, where she was last seen. Unfortunately, no evidence could be found.

"So that's it. There's not much to do now either, so you're free to go around. I'd really like to take you around in Osaka, but I need to greet another team from Tokyo," Hinako sighed. "Well then, see ya again!"

"Well then, I guess we'll have to search on our own…"Shiki said.

"Why don't treat this as an opportunity to go sightseeing around? We can search for Prof. Kanno at the same time. After all, it's not like we have any particular clue about her whereabouts anyway." Eri suggested.

After a bit discussion, the group agreed to go in three teams to search for Fumi in three different areas. Shiki and Eri will go to the south, Beat and Rhyme the center, and Neku and Joshua the north.

"Well then, let's go, Shiki!" Eri grabbed Shiki's hand and ran away so cheerfully that she almost looked as if nothing had happened.

"Don't lose your way again –" Rhyme giggled, but she was swiftly dragged away by Beat. "Waaah! Don't say this again!"

Now only Joshua and Neku remained in the now vacant lab.

"Hey, Neku. Do you remember that you have two favors to repay? I want to see around Osaka, so take me around." Joshua said.

"What the heck are you thinking, you snot? We need to find Fumi…gah…" Neku shouted out of impulse, but hesitated in the middle.

"It's not like we have any clue where to go, anyway? I really want to see other places I could not go before with you, Neku. It doesn't matter even if Osaka is now ruined by the earthquake – I still wanted to see its remnants. Let's just spend some quality time together, dear." Joshua grabbed the wrist of Neku and dragged him away.

" _How can he have this mood to go sightseeing…_ "Neku thought. "Fine…"

They did not know that demise awaits them.

* * *

Monday, 15:00, Namba

"No…that can't be…" Shiki fell into despair after seeing what happened to Namba.

This shopping paradise once fully illuminated with dazzling streetlight was now barren. All around the two visitors were the rubbles of the buildings they thought they once visited. They could recognize some ashes not far away, indicating that a fire had occurred after the earthquake. There was no one at their sight, not even birds that would chirp on the trees – just total silence.

"It's not like Namba is the only place damaged… we've already seen other places like this during our search. "Eri tried to reassure her best friend.

"But still… it hurts to see a place we had so much fun just some time ago destroyed…."

Shiki and Eri liked to came here for shopping. They could always go shopping in Shibuya, but they insisted to go here since they could feel the enthusiasm in the goods from Osaka. They remembered that the last time they came, they were here looking for the materials to sew their new design.

"Hey there! It's you two again! Oh, you have designed another outfit? They really fit you both!" The familiar shopkeeper from the sewing shop they liked to visit greeted them as ifthey were long-term friends.

"Yes, thanks." Shiki replied. "Could you help me to find all the things listed here?" She gave the shopkeeper her design draft. When they first came here, they intended to find the things on their own. However, the shopkeeper insisted in helping them to find the things they need so firmly that they could not refuse. Afterwards, over the next visites, they gradually got accustomed to this.

"Oh… is it a punk vest? It certainly looks perfect, but maybe you could try adding a button here," the shopkeeper pointed at the bottom of the design to them.

"Oh, wow! I didn't think of that. Thanks!" Eri thanked the shopkeeper for her small advice.

"Haha. It's not like I've done anything. Really, it's you who did all the designing," the shopkeeper said, going around her shop to pick up the goods they needed.

"Well then, here're all the things you need. That's 6,059 yens. I'll just count you 6000 yens."

Shiki and Eri paid the discounted price. Again, they got accustomed to this after repeated visits to this shop.

"Thanks! Come again!" The shopkeeper greeted them goodbye. They could remember that all three were smiling happily then.

* * *

"The shopkeeper… do you think she's still alive?" Shiki asked, on the verge of crying.

"Nothing can be sure … maybe she's still alive somewhere, helping the others in need … hey, Shiki! Don't fret over it! It's not like she wants you to be look like this!" Eri, upon noticing Shiki's feelings, tried to cheer her up.

"I know… I know that I shouldn't be worrying about nothing… it's just… it hurts to see people we were so familiar with dead. I missed the days when we can design our clothes together happily… Anyway, I'm fine, don't worry 'bout me," Shiki tried to regain her composure, but even she could feel that she was just pretending to be okay.

"You shouldn't be straining yourselves like that. You still have your friends you can rely on, right?"

"Yes, but… Neku was always fighting – he persuaded me to continue in the game, and he defeated Dubhe yesterday. I want to help him. That's the same for the others: Beat, Rhyme, and you also… all the others seem to handle this well. I just feel like I'm the weakest here… I told myself to value myself in the game, but now… I want to be as strong as all of you..."

"Then don't fret. Why are you still so timid even after the game? You should be aware of your inner strength. I also doubted, but when I thought about how I needed to protect you, I feel reinvigorated again. Just think about those who love you, like me and Neku, and it should be fine."

"I know… wait! What do you mean by Neku?" Shiki's face immediately turned scarlet.

"Just its literal meaning, hehe. Anyway, seems you've cheered up."

"Thanks, I'm fine now… But I'm not in love with Neku!"

"You can't feel that? I'm really serious. I can see that you two love each other like two lovers essentially. Otherwise, why are you blushing so much?"

Shiki wanted to rebuke, but could not find anything to say. "…Whatever. Don't always tease at me!"

"You know, time is scarce now. We may die anytime. You should just confess to him before it's too late. Leave no regrets, right?"

Just then, they both received an unexpected message. "A new 'dead face' clip has been uploaded!"

They both open their phone to see the death clip of Joshua.

"…We need to go find them!" Eri said.

"Like you need to remind me about that!" Shiki replied, both of them immediately going to Joshua's place.

* * *

Monday, 15:00, Tennoji Park

"Hah…" Beat and Rhyme lied down on the ground in the park. They were exhausted after three hours of search.

The park was mostly unscathed, with only some minor damages from the earthquake. As a result, a lot of people gathered and rested in the park. Some were taking a nap, while others were chatting loudly. A crowd gathered not far away, where the beautiful voice of a woman singing could be faintly heard.

"Rhyme? You wanna go there?" Beat asked Rhyme.

"It's good to have some refreshments in such time." Rhyme replied, taking Beat's hand and walking towards the crowd.

The crowd was quite large, with about a hundred people. In the middle there stood a woman singing. Her orange, shoulder-length, straight hair swung freely as she danced according to the beat. She had a black collar on her neck and wore a strapless, backless, plain white dress, exposing an orange tattoo of a flower on her left shoulder. Her right hand, wearing a black glove, was folded onto her chest. She closed her eyes and singed as if no one's there. All around her were people cheering, infatuated by her song.

"Sorry about the volume! I'm using a battery-powered amp. Blame it on the blackout! Here's hoping my songs get you all out of the Earthquake Blues!" the crowd cheered even more loudly.

"Hey… isn't that Haru*? She's singing here!" Beat exclaimed.

"This reminds me of how you got lost - "Rhyme said, but she was swiftly stopped by Beat. "Stop talking 'bout it all day long!"

When they were young, their whole family once travelled to Osaka. Once, they went to this park to play. Beat heard the voice of Haru singing afar and decided to go there secretly so that he could give Rhyme a surprise gift – an autograph from Haru. However, when he finally went there and obtained the gift, he could not remember his way back. Meanwhile, the rest of the family also noticed Beat missing and called the police to search for him. At last, they were united after an hour's effort.

"I don't want her autograph anymore. After all, it seems that my passion in rock music was gone." Rhyme said with her face smiling. However, one close to Rhyme like Beat could sense her tears underneath her smile.

"So you can't get back your love of rock after all… why all these should happen!"

"Well, it isn't like passion isn't something that can't be recovered. I can find a new dream, right? Say, I can become a composer instead of a singer. Also, we shouldn't be here in the first place – we died once. If there hadn't been the game, we wouldn't have been here at all. So Beat, don't get so angry. I know Joshua had his own reasons-"

"Why are you always so kind to others? You never care about yourself! You are just so… so…" Beat embraced Rhyme out of his impulse. Rhyme could feel Beat trying hard to hold his sniffing.

"It's okay, bro," Rhyme hugged Beat back. "And you shouldn't be caring about me so much about me like you're my father. You should think about your other friends, too."

"And you're saying this when you don't think about yourself? Just can't you have your own ambition as well?"

"If I should have a dream, it is to make you happy as my brother. Anyway, we should just focus on our survival in this week and not about other-" Rhyme's words were interrupted by unexpected messages from their phones.

They checked their phones to see the death clip of Joshua.

"Phone's also there! We gotta find them!" Beat said.

"That's the Church of the Light. Let's go!" Rhyme replied.

* Yes, that's the Haru from _Devil Survivor_.


	7. Monday's Calamity II

**Monday's Calamity II**

Monday, 15:00, Church of the Light

"Huff, huff… just how long are you going to continue going around like this? I'm not as eager to look around as you!" Neku growled after being pulled by Joshua around Osaka for the past four hours without rest.

"Shut up and walk, dear." Joshua said, without the slightest hint of stopping.

"Can you just stop for a bit? Do you even know how to rest?" Neku could literally feel his legs turning into jelly.

"Well then, only since it's my dear, dear partner, we can stop at this church," Joshua agreed to rest, much to Neku's surprise.

They were standing outside a cuboid building. Its concrete walls were unadorned in a plain gray, except with a small metallic cross on top of it and a cross-cut on one side. Overall, the chapel seemed insignificant outside. Therefore, they were surprised when they entered this cuboid.

Unlike the typical churches, in which one can find brilliant stained glasses, lifelike sculptures, and much other holy adornments, this one was vast but empty. To be exact, there was no decoration of any kind at all. The walls only had regularly spaced air vents. The window was also transparent, showing the adjacent cuboid. The pure white sunlight entered and diffracted from the cross-cut on the wall behind the altar, reflected on the smooth wall, and illuminated the whole chapel as if it was a celestial holy light. The light was so brilliant and unearthly that Neku felt like heaven was on the other side of the wall. The sanctity of the church made the two temporarily forget the unholy monsters rampaging outside.

No one was in the church. Only echoes of the footsteps of the partners resonated. They walked to the first row of benches in front of the altar and sat there.

"This church was something… it almost made me feel pious," Joshua muttered to himself.

"Huh? You said you weren't pious given you _are_ the Composer? I should be expecting this from such a brat like you anyway." Neku interjected sharply.

"Who said a Composer must be religious? I've seen the angels, but I didn't feel anything special towards them."

"You're just as arrogant as always… speaking of which, why can't you be just a little less snotty?"

"Being arrogant is not a sin, right, my dear? But if you asked me why I was always so snotty… then I guess it can be traced back to my childhood."

"Hah? What do you mean? You aren't an inborn brat?" Neku shouted out of surprise.

"Please, don't discriminate me. Have some compassion, dear."

"C-compassion? You even know the word? After killing me twice? This isn't funny!"

"Saved you twice in the game, and another against Dubhe, what could you ask for more? If you keep on hurting your dear partner, then I guess we'll just leave."

"Gah… just go on… tell me about your childhood…" Neku looked at the ground and clenched his fist out of frustration.

"Now you're peeping in my private life, hee hee," Joshua giggled mischievously, much to Neku's displeasure. "But only because it is you, Neku, I could tell you about it for a bit. I was born in the 1980s as the heir of Shomonkai1, a Japanese cultist group that believes God will bring salvation to humanity one day. My parents – the head of the cult – called me Joshua, meaning 'YHWH is salvation.'"

"During my childhood, I was confined in the shrine. To 'cultivate the new righteous maiden,' as claimed by the founder, I was forced to learn virtually everything, including myths; legends; history; science; and, in particular, the belief of Shomonkai. I could see the UG, probably due to my spiritual power, but the Shomonkai simply imprisoned me in a tiny room with no windows all day long 'to get rid of the unholy demons possessing me.'"

"However, I liked to go out of the shrine secretly at night, when the followers were sleeping, and wandered around – the Shomonkai followers were simply not meticulous enough in the confinement of the shrine. That's when I found Sanae, the sole 'person' who would believe what I said about the UG. I liked to chat with him in his café, which is the only entertainment I could enjoy then. Of course, I would return to the shrine before dawn so that the followers would not discover my disappearance."

"When I grew up, I gradually lost the will to live. The Shomonkai talked about how God could save humanity, but what I could see was only foolish people ruining the world, while the Angels could do nothing. Since I wanted to get rid of my confined life while simultaneously become the Composer to change Japan, I committed suicide one day. You know the rest."

For the second time (the first being when Joshua shielded him from Sho's deadly attack back in the game), Neku genuinely felt compassion towards the Composer. He had expected that the childhood life of Joshua was nowhere near normal, but the life of Joshua was just too…abnormal. Maybe this could explain his arrogance and misanthropy – growing isolated from any other people could surely drive one insane. " _Maybe he wasn't born to be so annoying… he just never had to chance to talk to people normally…"_ Neku thought.

"Then… you organized the game because you thought Shibuya was corrupted?"

"Perceptive as always, Neku. I saw people look like the walking dead, having lost their reasons to live. I couldn't see any reasons why the God would be willing to save them. This miasma can spread into other adjacent cities, so I, in order to prevent Shibuya from corrupting other cities, tried to see whether Shibuya was worth its existence."

"That's…" Neku's mind was growling, and he wanted to say that his reason was insane. However, he knew that doing so would only shut down the door for further discussion, so he merely remained silent. "Then, why did you change your mind at the last minute?"

"Because of you, Neku. I saw how even the person with the most chaotic mind in Shibuya could realize his imagination and become a compassionate hero. This gave me hope that Shibuya could change, so I just gave Shibuya one more chance. Although… now that I could ask Polaris to change the world… maybe I should try to give you a better world…"

"Polaris? What do you mean?" Neku asked out of confusion. Joshua had told Neku about Polaris before on Sunday, but he could not entirely comprehend it them.

"Someone's not a good listener," Joshua sighed. "Polaris is the God, who planned this game in the whole week. He sent the Septentrions to the Earth to test whether the will of humankind was strong enough to justify their existence. He will then redesign the world out of the wish of the humans who survive."

"So… what do you want if you can redesign the world?"

"I want a world where people could shine the brightest. Maybe… a world where the strong like you rule the rest is a good one? But I can also see that you strive in this present world … Right now, I'm not sure… But one thing I can be sure is that I don't want the world the Shomonkai aimed for – a world where the God guides humanity is just too restrictive. People should have their freedom to show their talents. What do you think, dear?"

"How should I know when you just told me about it? I need to think!"

"Very well, then. But maybe one day, we would fight for our different beliefs…hehe…" Joshua giggled, but Neku could feel a chill down his spine. His mind hadn't fully recovered from the shock when Joshua shot him, and the last thing he wanted was a fight between him and his friends again.

"By the way, I heard that you are dreaming to be an artist. Can I see your current work for the upcoming competition?"

"Fine… Wait! How do you know I am dreaming to be an artist? And why do you know I am currently working on an artwork for a competition? Are you… are you prying on my everyday life? You…"

"I was the Composer, after all. Even if your player pin can block my access to what you think, I can still sense some fragments leaking out of your mind. Moreover, I liked observing you. I liked to watch what you are doing afar."

Neku's face turned totally red, and he almost punched Joshua. "What? Not only do you try to read my inner mind, but you are also peeping at me? That's outrageous, you stalker!"

Joshua giggled. "Well, it's only because your imagination is really too attractive to me. Anyway, can you let me see your artwork? I really wanted to see what your amazing imagination can be like."

" _If only you sounded just a bit more sincere…"_ Neku thought. He handed a piece of paper and a pencil inside his pocket all the time to Joshua. "Ugh… fine. Do whatever you want."

On the paper was a small drawing consisting of a circle. Two dragons, one black and the other white, were chasing each other's tail, forming a circle. Although only the outline, as well as some primitive shading, was drawn, the power of the dragons was already emanating from the drawing.

"That's… I want to represent cyclicality. Yin generates yang, and yang generates yin again2. Everything is in dual, and they are complementary to each other. That's basically an oscillation. The world is like a cycle – between prosperity and flounder, between rule and chaos, between life and death."

"You're right. All humans, families, countries, and even the whole world are like a cycle. All persons who died have a chance to be reincarnated anew. Even the souls damned to become noises can, someday, be reborn."

"What do you mean? I thought… I thought those erased from the Game are gone for good."

"That's not how it's like. Angels will give every erased soul a chance of rebirth, so that they can have another chance to change the world with their imaginations. Even for the souls that became noises, when they are finally defeated, they will enter the cycle again."

Neku could not accept it yet. "That means all the players and reapers erased in the game… they are being reborn again?"

"You're correct. After the game, I tried to reincarnate all souls worthy enough back to its state before death. However, some souls just didn't possess enough levels of imaginations. They will then be born again as babies. This also applies to all reapers who died."

"So that's why you acted as if you don't care about Megumi and the other players dead in the game…" Neku muttered to himself. " _So I thought that Joshua erased all irrelevant souls ruthlessly in the game… But he actually knows they will be reborn again. I can't be more wrong. All this time, I thought you are the bloody killer, and yet…"_

"Are you feeling guilty that you thought I killed all of them in the game? You're just as cute and naïve as always.

"I-I'm not cute! How dare you!" Neku's face turned scarlet red immediately.

"Your face is priceless, dear. But this isn't the case anymore, though. Polaris is really thinking of recreating the world and erasing all humankind for good. Anyway, give me your piece. I will try to modify it."

"Huh? How can you have the mood to work on art at such a dire moment? Are you nuts?"

"Just as a pastime, dear. And take this as my second favor."

"A new 'dead face' clip has been uploaded!" The unexpected voice of Tico from Neku's phone startled the two. It was the death clip of Joshua. Neku opened the death clip. The scene was engulfed in flame, and Neku could only vaguely see Joshua shielding Neku from a fire attack. Neku was merely slightly scathed, but Joshua was burnt beyond recognition.

"Damn… we have to run!" All at once, Joshua grabbed Neku's wrist and prepared to run, only to see the only exit covered in flame.

"Don't think you could escape so easily! Master told me to give you two a little test, so… let me play around with you, Hahaha!" A deep and magnetic voice like a witch came from the altar. Neku and Joshua turned around to see a demon. He looked like a human, wearing a black suit, but his head was a skull, and his palms were webbed like a frog. His right hand was holding a burning chandelier.

"Fallen Bifrons… I didn't expect a devil like you to appear in such a holy place…hehehe," Joshua said to the demon.

"Can you please be quiet? After all… you're already dead!" Bifrons menaced and immediately shot a fire ball towards Joshua. He swiftly dragged Neku away and avoided it and summoned Remiel. Neku also followed and summoned Fenrir.

Fenrir leapt towards Bifrons and tried to hit the monster with his claws, but was swiftly knocked back by his shield. But that was just bait – Remiel quickly summoned a thunderbolt on Bifrons when he was distracted.

The demon was not so easily defeated, however; it quickly bombarded fire balls all around in a circle. The two defenders did not have time to dodge and were hit. Nonetheless, Joshua, with his amazing reflexes, dragged Neku away to evade the attacks.

"Wait… you are going to die shielding me! Why are you doing so?" Neku asked desperately.

"What do you suggest us do otherwise? If I shield you, only one dies; if I don't do so, both of us can die. Moreover, I want to see you live … I want to see what you can achieve. So… don't think I'd let you die," Joshua replied, unfazed.

"Same here!" Neku exclaimed. "Fenrir, attack Bifrons!"

Fenrir and Remiel both seemed to had suffered some damage from the attack, but they then launched their attack again. The beast ran around the devil, outspeeding his attacks, and then suddenly leapt forward and bit him, throwing him aside fiercely. Meanwhile, the angel opened his eyes, and a cobalt thunder that lit the whole room struck the demon. The beast continued to stomp on the devil. However, the devil swiftly retaliated with a flamethrower, which promptly erased the wolf.

"Is this all you can do? Be a nice kid and let me kill you easily, hahaha!" Bifrons teased at the two.

"Damn it… is what happened in the clip inevitable? Aaaaargh! I… U'm going to destroy you!" Neku burst out after the defeat of his demon.

A magic circle that was even greater than the one when he first summoned Fenrir on Sunday appeared around Neku. Slowly, a devil emerged. He was enormous, and the small church could barely contain him. He looked like a human, but he had four arms, and his skin was azure. His face was beautiful and yet fierce, and he had a closed eye on his forehead. His long green hair was tied behind his hair. One of his hands was holding a long golden spear, and the other one was holding a silver sword.

"Why is a mere human daring enough to sacrilege the power of god…? Insolent humans who trapped gods into prisons and even tried to control them for their own greed… and devils rampaging on the sacred land… now face destruction and be reborn!" The newly summoned demon roared. He charged his spear with fire and shot it to the ceiling. The spear passed through the ceiling almost as if there was nothing blocking it. The ceiling then melted, and the molten concrete glowing in deep carmine dripped onto the ground like the rain of fire.

"What's happening?" Neku saw his phone, only to see the message "Error: Uncontrollable" displayed on the newly summoned demon, Shiva. Joshua then pressed Neku's body onto the ground and shielded him against the molten concrete. He could hear Joshua screaming under the pain of his flesh burning. He shouted gravely, frustrated that he could not prevent the foreseen death of Joshua.

"Stop it now, Shiva." Suddenly, they heard a male voice above them. They turned up to see a man floating above the now ceiling-less church. Uncountable number of wires then appeared on his back, extended towards the two victims, wrapping them like a cocoon, and carried them away from the church. After that, the wires pierced through Shiva, and he was defeated without any resistance.

The two were carried to the ground outside the church. Joshua seemed to have fainted out of his injury. His white shirt was already burnt into coal in the back. Through some of the holes on the shirt, Neku could see Joshua's back scarred, and his skin exposed was in crimson red.

Neku stood up to see the mysterious man in more details. The man looked all but normal - he had short, curly, white hair. His eyelashes were white and his eyes pale lilac. His eyes were squinting as if he did not care about anything. He was smiling slightly, but unlike the confident smile of Joshua, his smile was mild and curious. He wore a red and black striped cloth with a frilled undershirt, black jeans, and red shoes that looked exotic and alien. Neku could feel gave a mysterious enigma not resembling human.

"I want to kill them! Can I pick them up?" Bifrons asked with menace.

The smile of the man disappeared. He said coldly, "Bifrons, shut up, or I will kill you."

The scared devil then said, "S-sorry, master! Shall I retreat now?" He disappeared.

The man then smiled again and muttered as if he was talking to himself, "So this's what your possibilities can achieve… I wanted to see your power, so I asked Bifrons to give you a little test. However, it seems he went out of control. Due to your strong desire to protect your friend, you summoned Shiva the Destroyer, an untamable god… Your wish was strong, but you did not have the willpower to control him yet, so he went out of control…It doesn't look like the wounds of your friend are deep. It should be recoverable under JPs' technology…"

"Who the hell are you? What are you trying to do?" Neku asked vehemently.

"Ah… it seems that this's the first time we met. Let me introduce myself. I'm Alcor, Yamato's… can I say that I'm Yamato's old friend? Nice to meet you. As for your friend, Joshua, I've already met him yesterday -" the guy continued.

"Wait! So you are the one who told Joshua everything about the Septentrions and Polaris? Why do you know so much? What are you trying to do?" Neku continued to ask.

"Yes, I told Joshua everything. I want to see changes… I want to see how the world's outcome can change under you two's influences. However, before I can leave the world in your hands, I need to first see your power. You summoned Shiva, showing your deep potential. However, you haven't gained the power to tame him yet. You need firm resolution. Tell me, why are you fighting?"

"I couldn't just sit back and weep in such a calamity … I fight… because I want to protect my partners…"

"I see… what an interesting response. It's not enough, though. I see your doubts within your mind. Until you find out why you fight, you cannot control Shiva. I helped you this time because my programming errors are responsible for what happened, but the next time, I won't help you anymore. Maybe someday, you could finally tame his power. Can you break the cycles of karma and finally lead the world to a better place? It's all on your own. Ah, your friends are coming, so I should go now. See you later…maybe."

"Wait!" Neku shouted, but Alcor already disappeared. He thought of all the mysterious things Alcor said. " _Programming error? Is_ he _the creator of Nicaea? And what did he mean by 'the cycles of karma?' Who the_ hell _is he? Damn it…"_

"Neku! Are you okay?" Shiki shouted afar, stopping Neku's threads of thought. Neku saw Shiki and the others rushing towards him.

"I'm okay, but Joshua… he was injured badly," Neku replied and turned to his injured partner. He forgot about the state of Joshua when he talked to Alcor, and now he really wanted to punish himself for Joshua's injury. " _I foresaw this, but I still could not do anything… And I wasn't powerful enough to control Shiva…"_

"Hey, Neku, it isn't like your fault… So don't be so sad," Shiki tried to comfort Neku, although she was also shocked by what happened.

Just then, Neku received a call. He turned his phone to speaker mode and listened to the call to find out that it was Yamato.

"Neku Sakuraba, you did well in summoning Shiva. However, right now, he is a wild card, so do not use him unless I tell you to do so. Now, you, together with Shiki Misaki and Eri Komaki, head to Festival Gate in Naniwa Ward at once and stop the hacker there. Daisukenojo Bito and Raimu Bito, carry Yoshida Kiryu back to JP's Main Branch. He needs immediate medical attention."

"... Let's go, Shiki and Eri," Neku said after a moment of hesitation. "I don't know what's happening, but… I don't want a calamity like this to happen anymore."

"All right, Neku. I'll come with you," Shiki replied. The three were now heading towards Festival Gate.

1 That's technically another reference to _Devil Survivor_. However, if you don't play it, just forget it – it has definite but insignificant uses to the story.

2 That's a reference to Chinese philosophy. The yin and yang are two complementary forces in the natural world. Yin is associated with the negative traits, while yang is linked to the positive traits. They give rise to each other through their connections in the natural world.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and please leave comments and reviews on how I can improve if you have the time. Meanwhile, since I have been dealing with college applications and compiling a newsletter lately, I will be quite occupied. While I have been writing ahead, I may need to slow the update speed a little bit, so I apologize for that m(_._)m


	8. Monday's Calamity III

**Monday's Calamity III**

Monday, 17:15, Festival Gate

The trio was just outside Festival Gate when a huge thunder landed inside. It was so powerful that they needed to cover their eyes just not to get blind.

"Argh… are we too late?" Neku thought of what happened to Joshua again after seeing this catastrophic event.

"Not sure, but we need to get in now!" Eri said. The three then entered the Gate.

It was complete devastated inside the Gate. The stairs were cracked. Above the stairs, the empty ground was covered in rubbles and broken pillars. There, Hinako was kneeling down next to an unconscious boy they hadn't seen before and was calling his name. Standing not far away from Hinako were another boy and a girl, both apparently normal high school students. The trio could vaguely recognize a boy and a girl lying down on a building far away.

The boy lying on the ground had a small build. He had short, silvery, spiky hair. His black eyes were motionless, and his pupils dilated. His mouth was wide open and lifeless. He wore a black shirt, a red undershirt, white shorts, and red sneakers. There were bruises all over his body, and, in particular, blood oozed out of his hindbrain and spread across his whole body like a carpet.

In contrast, the boy standing afar had a curly black hair and sapphire eyes. He was staring into nothing, and his pupils dilated apparently out of the shock of the scene. However otherwise, his eyes were clear and beautiful. He was wearing a white jacket with a hood, from which bunny ears with white and blue stripes extended out. Inside his jacket was a shirt also having white and blue stripes. He was also wearing blue jeans and a pair of blue shoes. He was clearly alive, but he did not look much livelier than the boy lying on the ground.

The girl gave them a different impression. She had a bowl cut, blond, shoulder length hair. Her russet eyes were big, watery, and innocent, able to draw the pity from the kind. She was wearing a regular school uniform. She was also looking at Hinako and the unconscious boy, but somehow, no emotions could be discerned as if she was too shocked to even feel at all.

"Keita? Keita!" Hinako shouted desperately.

The trio quickly ran towards Hinako. "What happened?" Eri asked.

"Can't you see? He's… he's…I have seen his death clip… I should be able to stop his death… But because of my carelessness… It's all because of me!" The boy in bunny jacket replied vehemently almost like he was starting to lose himself.

"Hibiki, it's not your fault… By the way, how's Joshua? I've seen his death clip, but I had to come here… Is he okay?" Hinako turned to face them. Her normally clear orange eyes were now red and swollen.

"He's injured but safe. Right now, he should be in the JPs Main Branch receiving medical care," Eri said.

"Fortunately…" Hinako gave a sigh of relief. "I thought like Keita, he is…"

"… Sorry for bursting out at you previously. I'm Hibiki Kuze, a summoner from Tokyo," the boy in bunny coat now showed a polite smile.

"…Io Nitta, also a summoner from Tokyo," the girl followed. The trio then introduced themselves one by one.

"Now that I can think about it, I remembered that I suddenly had a feeling that something wrong is going to happen… That's why I tried to drag Keita away, just before the thunder hits him, but still, I couldn't…" Hibiki seemed to be on the verge of collapsing again, but he regained his control. "I don't know, but my mind seemed to be a bit unstable ever since the earthquake… I shouldn't be like that… sorry…"

"Hibiki, it's just your stress. Don't push yourself too hard," Hinako replied with a smile.

A number of JP's workers unexpectedly came and surround them. "We're going to need you. Come with us."

Another worker handed a phone to Hibiki. It was Yamato. "Hibiki and Neku, a Septentrion as appeared. Get in position," he said. Hibiki, along with the others, was then dragged away, already too tired to make any struggles.

Neku turned back to catch a glimpse of the now desolate Festival Walk once more. It was enshrouded in complete silence, with only their sonorous footsteps resonating shapelessly in the vacant square. The slightly choking scent of burnt ashes was still lingering within the space.

* * *

Monday, 17:45, Osaka JP's Main Branch

Hinako, Io and Eri were talking to each other in Hinako's room. Hinako was sitting straight on her bed, while Io was sitting on a wooden chair in front of her. Eri was pouring water from the kettel.

"About Keita… he saved me yesterday when I was pinned down in the rubble and couldn't move. I thought I was finished, but he had his Berserker lift the rocks on me. The people watching were shocked logically. But after he did this, the JP's personnel captured us and gave us a big lecture not to use demons in public. I guess you guys have the same thing," Hinako said.

Eri approached Hinako and handed her a cup full of water. "Hinako, do you want some water? You look fatigued."

"Thanks." Hinako took a zip of water and put it on the desk. "You know, it's kind of weird for a youngster like you to be caring about someone older like me. It's like… it's like you are the most mature emotionally here…"

"I'm not. It's just that I can't fall in a situation like this. I feel like… if I collapse, then Shiki… then everyone will follow. Therefore, it's the opposite – the others are supporting me." Eri smiled.

"I really want to be like you, instead of just sitting back and crying … Ah, Hinako?" Io seemed to have something to say, but she was interrupted by some JP's workers entering the room.

"We have to go. Are you ready?" one of them approached Hinako and asked.

"Um… right," Hinako replied and stood up at once.

"So you are going too?" Io asked.

"Definitely. No way I was going to sit this one out," Hinako smiled as she replied.

"Okay. Let me in! I want to fight with you too!" Io stood up.

"I'm also going!" Eri followed.

"Everyone except Miss. Kujou has been ordered to remain here as stand-by stance," one of the personnel coldly rejected the three girls.

"Why we?" Io asked.

"Direct orders from the bureaucracy," he responded.

"Hey Nitta. Hibiki needs you as his friend right now," Hinako whispered next to Io's deliberately loud enough so that the two could hear her. "He's now pushing himself too hard. You can see his mind was getting unstable? He needs you to calm himself down. Just stay with him, okay?" Hinako left with the personnel after these words.

"…What should I do? I…I want to help him, but I'm worried I could be a burden…" Io asked the other two.

"Just go. Neku's also fighting with him, but he needed your help. Every boy needs a sweet girl by his side. Moreover, you're just too meek. I'll go with you in case you're scared." Eri replied.

"I-I'm not scared! You don't need to go!"

"You see that Neku was also blaming himself over the injury of Joshua? Therefore, I'm also going to help him. We're on equal terms now, right? Then let's go!"

"Alright…" Io finally agreed.

* * *

Meanwhile, quite far away from Hinako's room, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme were talking to another boy. The boy had a chestnut-colored, spiky hair. His brown eyes were kind and modest. His yellow scarf hung loosely around his neck and down his school uniform. Overall, he should be a cheerful high-school student, except that he was now depressed over the scenario.

The four were gazing through the windows into the ward, where Joshua was still lying unconscious.

"So … that's Joshua? Is he okay?" the boy asked.

"He doesn't have any critical burns, fortunately. We're fine, Daichi. You should go find Hibiki instead. I think he's still blaming himself over what just happened…" Shiki replied.

"I know... but the guards just won't let me out! They just said my demons were too weak! I really wanted to help, but… How can all of you be so calm after all of this?" Daichi cried.

"It isn't like we want to be calm. It's just that we have already got used to this…" Shiki replied.

"We three, together with Neku and Joshua, have gone through another life-or-death scenario a year ago. It was similar to this one; we also needed to fight for our survival, and death was everywhere. I suppose we just learnt how to cope with such situations before…" Rhyme followed to explain what Shiki meant.

"R-Really?" Daichi screamed out of fear. "What the hell could that be? The Septentriones are horrible, but there's something even worse?"

The trio fell silent, deciding whether they should tell Daichi about the game. Beat finally asked, "Yo, man… Ain't we going to tell Daichi 'bout that?"

"I suppose that's fine. We're all told to wait here, so we don't have anything to do now anyway… I guess telling others about the game isn't forbidden anyway – we've told Eri about this already. Is this fine for you, Shiki?" Rhyme replied.

"You're right. We've already told Eri about the game, so I guess you can know this anyway…" Shiki gave an affirmative response and told Daichi about Shibuya's Game.

"W-whaaat? This's just like an RPG game… How can this be real? And Joshua... that boy really was the almighty Composer? I can't believe it! But I guess we're facing all this demons now anyway…" Daichi was at a complete loss of words after hearing their story.

"I know that's hard to believe, but that's true… I should say that Eri is the strongest one here. She's not gone through the game, but she can still stay strong and take care of the others. Somehow, I really admire her… that's why I want to stand up like her." Shiki said.

"…But what're we supposed to do now… We're just too weak… If only I could fight like how you did… Wait! Could you use your pins to fight demons?" Daichi suggested.

"No. We've tried, but it was too weak to do any realistic damage to demons," Rhyme looked at her pin on her shirt and replied.

"Aw… that's too bad. Then what should we do?" Daichi said disappointedly.

"Well, there's nothing we can do now except praying for Neku and Hibiki…" Shiki said. She then thought about Neku. She thought about how they formed their pact; how Neku almost killed her once when Uziki deceived him; how they gradually got closer together; how Neku helped her abandon her jealousy rooted deep down her heart; how they together defeat the first Game Master, and eventually, Megumi… If Eri was her first friend who always supported her, then Neku could be said to be her comrade who fought back-to-back with her… or was there more? " _No… The feeling isn't love… Then what's that?"_ Shiki didn't know how to describe her relationship with Neku.

Suddenly, a JP's worker threw several packages down the stairs above them and said, "Hey. You're all in the medical team."

* * *

Monday, 17:50, Tsuutenkaku

"Hibiki and Neku. You two are the last line of defence. You _must_ stop it," Yamato ordered on the phone.

Hibiki and Neku were both standing on the roof of a residential building near the tower alongside with some JP's workers. One of them was holding a phone towards the two.

Neku turned down and stared at the vacant streets. The barren road was illuminated by the golden sunset, like a lamp in surgery to expose the wounds of a patient. Vehicles that would normally flood the highways at this instant were nowhere to be found. People, if they were fortunate enough to survive at all, all escaped to shelters. Everything was in reticence, as if anticipating for the looming malice.

The wind was still, and Neku could almost feel the hectopascals of pressure of the atmosphere on his shoulders, so magnificent to be almost crushing Neku to pieces. He really felt like 'factoring hectopascals' – Sho once used this phrase to categorize the players as 'impossible bugs,' but now defending the whole Osaka by solely himself and Hibiki was even more insane to him.

"Is there a problem?" Yamato coldly asked.

Neku reluctantly agreed, but Hibiki hesitated. "Keita… he died trying to protect the rest of us…"

"It's an acceptable sacrifice." Yamato replied, still emotionless.

"A sacrifice… I can't think of the others like you!" Hibiki cried.

"Then feel free to quit. I have no need for someone who lacks the will to fight," Yamato replied, slightly irritated.

"You…."

"Chief. He was just a normal civilian until yesterday." They could hear the voice of Makoto speaking.

"That's irrelevant. One is just a piece of garbage if one's power cannot be used, even if it is tremendous," Yamato replied.

"I'm not quitting. I'll use my power to protect the people beside me," Hibiki said firmly. "I don't want to have any unnecessary sacrifices."

All a sudden, alarms flooded the other side of the phone. People were shouting all over. "Fall back. Fall back!" Makoto cried.

"Here it comes… Merak's circumpolarity…" Yamato said.

No sooner had the workers told Hibiki and Neku to quit then they felt a powerful beam fired just in front of them. The beam was tremendous, destroying every building on its way as if the buildings were not more than a piece of paper. Frosty gusts swirled around the beam, and all the people on the building had to brace their eyes just not to let the wind literally freeze their eyes. The earth was shaking, as if an earthquake is emerging, and the people could barely stand straight.

After half a minute, the impulse stopped. The ground below was solidified into ice. The icy air was precipitating on Neku's body. It was cold, mind-freezingly cold. Neku could feel the chill like thousands of spears piercing through his eyes, his nose, his ears, his arms, his legs, and every flesh in his body. The chill was seeping through all of his organs right into his heart. He imagined that very soon, even his spirits would become frozen, and he would become as frigid as Yamato or Joshua… "Joshua? Is that brat… really that cold? He… he just… Damn it! I have no time to think about him!" he realized his thought was running into a calamity again.

"What's the situation now?" "Communication was lost!" "Where're the survivors?" words from the JP's overflowed out of the phone.

"…They're dead… Everyone's dead…" Hibiki muttered.

"Hibiki! Get out of there now! You don't have to be the last guy of fight, you know? You'll die!" Daichi's voice suddenly came out of the phone.

"Neku! You can't fight like this now! I know you want to compensate for what happened, but don't act like a hero-" Shiki also pledged Neku not to fight, but her voice was cut midway.

"I'm going… to fight…" Hibiki muttered.

"You need to stay here and hold this position," one of the workers hold out his phone.

"Wait! Don't be reckless!" Neku held Hibiki's arm to stop him from going.

"Stay aside," Hibiki suddenly shook away Neku's hend and hold his phone towards the worker, out of everyone's surprise. "With Byakko… I can finish this without anyone else…"

He then asked Yamato through his phone, "You heard that, didn't you? You could have used me to stop this at the very start. No one had to die… You could have done something!"

"There're too much uncertainties about the power of this Septentrione. We couldn't finish it without any strategy," Makoto said.

"Your lack of strategy is why you need me?"

"Now listen. You're obviously unable to think clearly about this. I can't give you permission to go."

"I didn't ask for your permission!" Hibiki cut off the connection.

He then summoned his demon. It was a white tiger with black stripes, about the same size as Neku's Fenrir. Just looking at its pure sapphire eyes was enough to make someone cringe. However, unlike Fenrir, who was a fierce, impure beast, it looked celestial and just.

"You can try stopping me, but I'll go! Stay here, Sakuraba. I'll finish it alone," Hibiki jumped onto the tiger. Before Neku could do anything, the tiger gave a long growl and dashed away.

"Wait!" Neku shouted, but Hibiki either neglected it or did not hear this at all. Without any time to think, Neku immediately summoned his Fenrir and chased Hibiki.

During the ride, the breeze of the cold wind kept him sober. He reflected on why he had the impulse to chase Hibiki. _"Just why there're always so many dumbasses in the world… Why I had to follow him?"_ He tried to persuade himself that Hibiki was too unstable right now and might do something reckless that can risk his life. What he did not want to admit, however, was that he didn't want to see Hibiki in such a mental state. Even though they had only met each other an hour ago, Neku could see that Hibiki had such a big emotional burden, so he felt he had the responsibility to at least share the burden. Shibuya's Game taught him to become compassionate.

Meanwhile, just after he leapt out of the building, Io and Eri arrived, still panting.

After the calamity, what will remain?

* * *

A/N: I apologize for almost exactly copying the content of the anime… This is just the starting point, and the real plot will begin to develop on Wednesday.

And again, if possible, please don't dive and give some comments! It helps both my psychology and the writing J


	9. Monday's Calamity IV

A/N: Sorry for uploading the wrong chapter before ヽ(#ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ. Since I had just finished the early admission lump and was racing against my homework, I was not in the best mental state then, so I just... Once again, sorry for my mistake =͟͟͞͞ =͟͟͞͞ ﾍ( ´Д`)ﾉ.

* * *

 **Monday's Calamity IV**

 **Monday, 18:00, Kawaramachi**

"Boom!" The first thing that entered Hibiki's ear was the impulse of an explosion. He looked up to see the gigantic monster.

The Septentrione, Merak, was an enormous airship not unlike the tail of a fish, stretching over a hundred meters high and fifty meters long. Cobalt plates pieced the whole body like a rough piece of collage work. Illuminating sunlight reflected on its enigmatic plates perfectly as though it was not made of any earthly materials. Glowing orbs pulsated through the crimsons boundaries like blood in arteries. Maroon cylinders were packed laterally along its body resembling spikes of a squirrel, only that the Septentrione was nowhere as passive as a squirrel.

All a sudden, the missiles from the cylinders detached like bees buzzing out of the beehive. They danced like particles in Brownian motion, but if one could calculate accurately, one would know they were following a preplanned trajectory having their clear target but only appeared to be travelling randomly. Everywhere they hit, nothing more remained except ashes and smokes.

Immediately, Hibiki saw Hinako, along with other JP's workers, defending themselves in vain against the maniac assault of the missiles. Hibiki leapt out of his tiger and ordered it to destroy the missile. A lightning struck the all missiles midair, but Hinako was still knocked back by the impact.

"Hinako!" he rushed towards the lady and knelt down beside her.

"Hibiki? Aren't you guarding the last line of defense?" Hinako gasped.

"I can't bring myself to see all others dying in vain."

"What are you talking about? Get back!"

Meanwhile, Neku finally reached where Hibiki was now. "Huff… huff… Hibiki! What do you think you are doing?"

"Sakuraba? Didn't I tell you to stay there? Why are you coming?" Hibiki asked.

"I'm the one who should ask you what you are doing! What the hell are you thinking? "

"If I can defeat it now, then no one have to die! Byakko!" Hibiki ordered his demon to start attacking Merak.

"Damn it… You can't defeat it like that! Fenrir!" Neku sighed, reluctantly ordering Fenrir to also start its attack.

Byakko charged itself with electricity, and a celestial thunder struck Merak. A restless explosion like the flames in inferno then engulfed the monster. However, when the fire ceased, Merak was barely damaged. It stockpiled the missiles again, preparing for the next wave of frenzy.

"What… electric attacks did not work? And fire too?" Hibiki said.

Merak then began shooting pulses of lasers around like a rainstorm of light. Byakko swiftly evaded the missiles and jumped to the Septentrione, scratching its surface with its claw so deeply that blood oozed out from the wound. However, when it landed, it was welcomed with a laser. It slipped into a pit, paralyzed.

In the meantime, Fenrir covered Byakko, swaying the flamethrower around to destroy any stray missiles. However, one of the missiles sneaked behind the wolf, and he was severely damaged by it.

"Byakko!" Hibiki ran over to his injured demon. However, Merak, upon noticing his move, immediately launched all its missiles towards the undefended boy. To it, everything was planned; there could be no accidents.

"Protect Byakko!" Upon the order of the leader, all the workers used their demons to act as a shield against the missiles. However, one of the missiles didn't target the decoys, and instead focused on Hibiki. Desperate, he braced himself and prepared to face death.

"You fool!" Hinako rushed towards Hibiki.

"Damn… Fenrir, protect Hibiki!"

Hinako, Fenrir and Byakko all rushed to Hibiki at the same time when the missile finally exploded.

When the impact finally ended, Hibiki opened his eyes to see he wasn't scathed at all. Then, he stood up and saw a scene he hadn't expected at all. Merak had already left them alone and proceeded towards the tower. White, angelic feathers from the defeated demons used by the workers were falling gently all around him like a drizzle. Byakko and Fenrir were lying right next to him, already too injured to move. Beyond them, the floor was carpeted in the crimson color of blood, interspersed with bodies of the fighters. The comatose corpses, the fading feathers, the sinking sun, the marooned macrocosm – everything was telling the story of calamity.

"Are you okay?" Neku shouted, running towards him.

"Yeah…Where's Hinako?" Hibiki replied.

"Hinako… she's there! Hinako!" Neku and Hibiki both ran towards her. She was lying on the ground. Hibiko held her towards him to see that her right body was completely covered in blood.

She slowly opened her eyes and said in a weak voice. "Hibiki…Wasn't Io supposed to be with you?"

"Hah? Where's she?" Hibiki said in a surprise.

"I guess you guys missed each other… that's crazy…" she smiled for the last time before falling into a long slumber.

"Hinako! No!" Hibiki cried. He held his hand towards him. It was dyed in deep crimson.

At the same time, a walkie-talkie afar was shouting like crazy:

"Merak is 500 meters away from the defense line!"

"Hold it up! Merak is here! Go, go, go!"

"Merak is – no!"

"Get back! Get back!"

"Waah!"

"Hey! Hibiki" Hibiki gave no response.

"Are you alright?" a male voice came from afar, clearly addressing Hibiki. The two turned to see Alcor. He was standing still, almost levitating, amid the shower of feathers. The texture between the feathers and Alcor's snowy hair was not differentiable, almost like Alcor was only one of the unearthly feathers dancing towards the ground.

"So it seems that only the ones with powerful demons are saved… Oh, we met again," Alcor said.

"Who are you? Did we… meet other before?" Hibiki asked.

"I guess it's the first time you met me… although it's been so many times for me… I'm Alcor, Yamato Hotsuin's old friend…is it?" Alcor muttered to himself like a monk chanting monotonically.

"What do you mean?! I met you before?" Hibiki stared straight at Alcor.

I have known you since a long, long time ago, observing you afar and see how you think… but that doesn't matter." The man hesitated, staring blankly at the sky and thinking, before responding. "I see… so this still happened, even with the involvement of Neku…"

"I couldn't save them from dying…"

"Couldn't save them from dying? Seems to be you dragged them in."

"Dragged them in?"

"The girl lying there protected you. And the other one is trying to fight. She's the one with you. Oh, there's an extra one, too."

"No way… Nitta's going to fight?"

"And the extra one? What do you mean?" Neku's widened eyes expressed his alarm.

"She's the girl around you, Neku. It appears that she's taken your place to fight."

"She can't!" Hibiki shouted.

"And Shiki too? No way…" Neku was on the verge of collapse.

'You chose it, didn't you? 'To achieve your goal, sacrifice is necessary.' What do you think? Humans always sacrifice each other so as to achieve what they want. They kill other organisms to gratify their appetite; they rule over the others to achieve order; they step upon each other to climb up their ladder of society. So, what happened to Keita, to Hinako, to everyone else just now do you think it is inevitable or contingent?"

"There must be a way without sacrifice! Even if it's to save the world… I can't accept anyone dying in vain!" Hibiki burst out, tears almost overflowing out of his clear eyes.

"It's an interesting concept… I shall see what will happen if Neku's with you. Neku, I hope you can harness your power and bring forth a new possibility…" Alcor said before disappearing.

* * *

 **Monday, 18:05, Tsuutenkaku**

"We're counting on your summoner powers," Makoto told Io and Eri on the phone.

"Yes and… Where's Hibiki? And Neku too?" Io asked.

"They're fine, Nitta. Just concentrate on the fight," Yamato interjected before the woman could say anything.

"Yes…" Io replied.

"Io, don't worry. They are powerful enough to be able to keep themselves safe. For now, let's just get this over with," Eri told Io.

"Thank you…" Io said.

"It's Merak! Summon your demons!" All a sudden, the of the workers shouted. All the workers then summoned their demons and launched the final wave of attack.

The two girls could then see the Septentrione about thirty meters in front of them. It had a few scratches from the previous attacks like tiny veins on the leaves, small enough to be almost negligible. The missiles were extended out, ready to launch the next wave of attacks towards the demons.

"Ever since we're in the accident, I couldn't do anything without you. I was crying all the time. That's not right, is it? But now, Hibiki, I want to help you. I don't want to see you in the distress again. I will…" Io muttered to herself before exclaiming, "I will fight!"

Within a second, her demon, Kikuri-hime emerged out of the magic circle. The woman figure's onyx skin was concealed under her vermillion dress. Her long ivory hair wrapped her body down to her waist like a cape. Her eyes were closed gently, as if she was meditating.

"Shiki… we've been through many things together. You said that you want to get back to the peaceful days, didn't you? The same goes for me. I don't want to see you suffer anymore. Therefore, I will fight for you… for Io… for everyone!" Eri also summoned her new demon, Peri.

Peri, a winged human, was wearing a silk dress and cap in saffron yellow. A lime ribbon, tied around her waist, coiled around her legs loosely and swung as if they were alive. Her hands were held over her head, each holding a shell. Her wings extending from her back were yellow and feathery. Her otherwise feminine face was veiled beneath a silk cloth. Her posture was elegant and attractive, and her movement aesthetic.

"Kikuri-hime!"

"Peri!"

The two demons flew up smoothly, sublimely, but, above all, staunchly. The Septentrione surrounded itself with lasers in an attempt to shoot them down, but the two gracefully evaded all of them. Like an antenna, Kikuri-hime shot beams not unlike aurora from her hand and impaled through its skins. Meanwhile, Peri flapped her wings, sending forth arcs of thunderbolts and widening its wounds. The vermilion goddess and the saffron fairy were performing their duet dance, drifting around the stage of the Septentrione and sending their affections to the silent audience.

However, they got careless, and the calculative Merak soon seized the opportunities to shoot them down. The laser beam pierced through the chests of Peri and Kikuri-hime in a line simultaneously, and both were erased swiftly.

Sensing the only threats gone, Merak abruptly shed its skin and opened its mouth wide, pointing directly in front of them like a beast about to feed on its prey. The cobalt plates, along with all the missiles extended out, fell to the ground and exploded violently. Its mouth was a void, like a portal to another incomprehensible dimension, except that there was an enigmatic sphere in its middle. Green, violet, white, blue… the colors mixed dissonantly like a palette in the void. All of a sudden, a gust of wind powerful enough to shake even the tower came out of the void, and all of the tamers were blown back.

Merak was charging up for its last attack. Spiral arms of blizzards almost as big as the Septentrione itself were being absorbed into the center of its mouth, gathering as a white orb. The orb grew rapidly and rotated like a developing tornado. The demons were attacking, but Merak wasn't flinched at all. Very quickly, the orb could even encompass Merak itself. Once Circumpolarity was fired again, there would be no doubt that the last group of demon tamers, along with Tsuutenkaku and Osaka itself, would be annihilated in mere seconds.

However, just as the charging was finished, Merak was suddenly knocked sideways. Io and Eri rushed to the roof edge to see Hibiki and Neku on the ground, both holding their phones, with their demons on their sides.

"Hibiki!" Io exclaimed.

"Neku? And Hibiki too? What are you doing here?" Eri also shouted in vain.

The two boys, too far away from them to hear the messages, gave no reactions. The two spectators only saw Byakko and Fenrir both charging themselves, leaping to opposite sides, and then jumping to the undefended Septentrione at the same time. Byakko shattered its sphere in its mouth, while Fenrir pierced through its body. With a halt, Merak tilted its body and unleashed its attack. However, instead of targeting the tower, it was deflected into the sky. The beam was shot vertically, like a call of rescue to the heaven.

Just then, Merak's body started disintegrating into nothing starting from its top. Snowflakes began to glide down slowly and peacefully. The snow was even whiter, clearer, and purer than other snows, as if it was oblivious of the disaster just happened. Soon, the whole Osaka was dressed in a pure white bandage. It was dark; the sun was set, and the moon hadn't risen yet. The decomposing fragment of Merak glittered in all colors, and the snow sparkled amidst the light. The snow was like a cradle, bringing a peaceful sleep to the city after the ravaging day.

Meanwhile, back in Kawaramachi, Hinako, who had been watching over this distantly, smiled upon the sight of Merak's defeat. "Hibiki… you did it…"

"Hibiki, watch out!" Suddenly, Neku grabbed Hibiki's arm and prepared to run. Hibiki looked up to see the remnants of Merak, still disappearing, trying to launch the last wave of missiles, before being swiftly sliced into half.

It was the work of another demon. The demon looked like a hermit. His black hat covered his whole face, and a black cloak extending down to his waist concealed his body. He was wearing a black armor, carrying a black sword, and there was not a single part of his body that was not in black.

Upon seeing the final defeat of the resilient Septentrione, he put his silver sword back to his scabbard and turned away.

"Don't let your guard down when you're not sure," a man said behind them, his voice cold as ice, but at the same time powerful as fire. The two boys turned to see a Brazilian-like man. His unyielding chestnut eyes, his tanned skins, his Byzantium jacket hung loosely around his neck, his rigid, soldier-like posture, all of these immediately whispered to Neku that the man was tenacious, and one he had better not offend.

"W-who are you?" Hibiki asked the stranger as he slipped his right hand into his pocket in search of his cutter, which he, foreseeing its uses for self-defense in such a dire scenario, reserved from his pencil case. His intuition told him that the man was a dangerous one, and his grip on his cutter tightened as the man approached to them. He knew that man just saved them from Merak, but he was ready to do the same to him if he drew too near.

"Lower your guard. I'm against the JP's, Ronaldo Kuriki, but not against you." Ronaldo surveyed Hibiki's right hand, and Hibiki immediately loosened his grip as if it was a reflex action. "In fact, I invite you too to come with me, Mr. Hibiki Kuze and Mr. Neku Sakuraba. Yamato Hotsuin is dangerous, you understand?"


	10. Tuesday's Degeneracy I

**Tuesday's Degeneracy I**

 **Tuesday, 08:30, JP's Tokyo Branch Hospital Ward**

 _Beep. Beep._ It was the sound of the life sustainer, pumping to the saline into the comatose Composer. _Beep. Beep._

The hospital ward was filled with a suffocating silence, with only the sound of the life sustainer counting the seconds past, and the seconds to be come. Even his friends, who had been sitting there for more than an hour to monitor his conditions, did not dare to break through this barrier of reticence.

"How long is he going to let us wait here? Damn it!" All a sudden, Beat growled.

Shiki, who was waiting alongside with Beat, tried to calm him down. "Beat, don't get impatient… This can disturb the others, and it's not like he is going to recover any time soon anyway…"

"But then what are we going to do now? Just sitting here? Neku and Hibiki're missing! Can't we do something about it?"

Rhyme said with her usual smile. "You're always so reckless, Beat… It will be wise to wait for Joshua first. We've been given standby order, and he is the strongest among us here. Things should go a bit smoother if he is among us."

Daichi joined the brouhaha. "Then we're going to abandon Hibiki? He's been straining himself all the time, and he was even taken away by the rioters. What if he encountered something bad while we're waiting here? Why just can't we help him a little bit? I don't want him to … to…"

Shiki, who had been speaking in a meek tone, suddenly raised her voice.. "I want to help Neku and Hibiki too, but what are we going to do in this state? We don't even know how to get to the rioters' base! No… I shouldn't be like this. I want to be more equanimous, but my emotions keep on going astray. Calm down, Shiki…"

Eri attempted to console her up. "Shiki, are you okay? We will always stay beside you, so that's okay!"

"That's not what I mean. I just need to get more level-headed… There must be a way…"

Meanwhile, Io, who had gone to the washroom, returned to the group. "Actually, I heard Makoto ordering her troops to board the train to Nagoya, where the rioter's base is located… Do you think it's possible to board the train to rescue Hibiki and Neku?"

Daichi's excitation was clearly written on his smile. "That's it! If we can go to Nagoya, then we can get Hibiki back! He's done so much to us, and now is our chance to repay him! But … how are we going to escape the notice of the JP's workers? If they notice us, then they may send us back…"

Everyone got silent. Beat was the first one to give a suggestion. "Can't we just say we want to go to Nagoya too? Then they will allow us to go."

Rhyme sighed. "You don't seem to have recognized the problem… Nagoya is currently taken by gangsters, and the situation is likely to be dangerous. Why will the workers allow us untrained summoners to go? Not only can we get ourselves into troubles, but we can also slow the workers down."

Beat seemed to have given up. "Gah…stupid workers!"

Io hesitated for a while before saying. "Then, can we hide our traces? This way, the workers won't recognize us."

Shiki nodded approvingly. "Hmm… that's viable, but where can we find objects to hide into?"

"That… the workers should be bringing some resources to Nagoya branch, and they should put them inside some boxes. We can just find some leftover ones and squeeze ourselves into them."

Eri patted Io's shoulder. "Wow… I didn't know you are that intelligent. Good job, Io!"

Io smiled sheepishly. "Thanks… but I heard the train leaves at 9, so we'd better hurry!"

Eri asked the whole group. "So there's no objection, then?"

All the people nodded.

"Good. We'll leave now."

During the stealthy walk to the train station, Shiki kept on reflecting upon her own emotions. _Why did I get so unstable after seeing Neku gone? Why… why am I so worried about him? That's not romance – it should be something of another kind…_

 _That's it. It's brotherhood._

All the while, the life sustainer continued on its relentless beeping, keeping track of the looming apocalypse.

* * *

 **Tuesday, 14:30, JP's Nagoya Branch**

"Egalitarianism and meritocracy… is this even possible, Neku?" Hibiki asked Neku. The two were leaning on the railings of the corridors. Ronaldo just told them about the ambition of Yamato to rebuild a world ruled by meritocracy and his determination to bring egalitarianism to humankind.

"I can't say, but Joshua had told be the same thing… What do you think should be done to the world?" Neku replied. "When Joshua asked me about this yesterday, I didn't have any idea at all. I just…I just want to stop the sufferings of my partners. That's why I agreed to come here – I don't want anything more to happen to them, after what happened to Joshua…" _Wait! Why am I suddenly so worried about Joshua as if he's my…_

"He's your friend, isn't he? Just like how Daichi and the others are to me. I… I can't stand back watching others cry. If there is a way to end their pain, then I'll help them no matter what. That's what Daichi taught me, and now, I am determined to fight for my belief until the very end."

"Huh? So you aren't that brave to begin with?" Neku replied. _That suicidally and rashly brave, to be exact._

"You're right. It's all thanks to Daichi… When I was a kid, I was bullied by my classmates. But then, he stepped in to protect me and agreed to become my friend. Even though I didn't ask for anything, he was always by my side, encouraging me and protecting me. It was he who taught me to be kind to others. Therefore, now, I want to protect him in return, to protect everyone in return. I couldn't imagine what would happen if it weren't for him: maybe I would just become like Yamato… I can't bear the thought of losing him at all, that's why… I… I am being selfish, aren't I? Just pretending to be the guardian of justice, while actually fighting for my inner greed, that's it?" He gave a bitter chuckle.

"What's the problem of being selfish? 'Enjoy every moment with all you've got. Do what you want, how you want, when you want,' that's the motto of CAT. Just be what you like to be, and protect the others."

"So you're also a fan of CAT? What a coincidence! And look at all the pins you're wearing… you're an even bigger maniac than me!" The guy, a tall man with a striped suit and a matching cap who has been sitting on the staircase, suddenly said. Beneath his brown sunglasses, his russet eyes flickered.

"Huh? Joe, I didn't expect you to be also a fan of CAT. But that means you can also appreciate the artworks of CAT? They were just awesome! Tell me, what do you feel about them?" All a sudden, Neku began to speak so fast, unable to conceal his passions.

Once Neku and Joe began their discussions on CAT, they become unstoppable. "Um… what is the CAT you are talking about? Is it a kind of program? Hey! Don't leave me alone!" Hibiki tried to ask for clarification, but the two ignored him and went on.

"My favorite graffiti? It must be the one on Udagawa Back Street. The colors were marvelous…" Joe hesitated upon seeing how Neku's sparkling eyes suddenly got dim. "Huh? Why are you suddenly so apprehensive? Did something bad happen… to it?" Even Hibiki could notice the drastic change in the mood of Neku.

"No… It's just that something very significant to me happened right there… Never mind," Neku answered, his eyes downcast to the ground and his tone powerless.

"You don't seem okay in any way! You kids should ask for a mature adult like me when it comes to such affairs!" Joe said.

"But… is that okay? I mean, asking something that personal…" Hibiki said, with a frown on his forehead.

"Well, everyone had his own traumas. You must go through them if you want to become stronger," Joe said. "Of course, we won't force you if you don't want to!"

"Joe, I can't see how you looked mature in any way… However, I guess it's time for me to get over with this anyway…" After a few moments of pause, Neku finally answered. He described what happened to the game, how Joshua killed him in the street, how he met Shiki in the first week, how his emo was resolved, how Joshua joined the game in the second week, how Beat saved him from the hopeless third week, how Joshua finally revealed his deal with Kitanji, and how he was shot again… When he was speaking this, he found that his memories, together with the trauma engraved deep down his brain, was gradually being dug out from the abyss of his consciousness. He spoke slower and slower, his voice louder and louder, and even burst out into tears when he finally got to the final day. He knew he wouldn't behave like this normally, but he did – it was like his mind had been … degenerating after what happened two days.

After he finally finished his long story, the two listeners were short of words for a while. "Oh my god… I didn't expect this from you. Being killed twice and trapped in a life-or-death game for three whole weeks? That's too much for me…" Joe finally said with wrinkles of sympathy on his head.

"But… what happened to Joshua? I remembered you mentioning something about what happened to Joshua," Hibiki also said.

"He… he shield an attack for me yesterday and was heavily injured. He should be staying in the hospital ward of JP's now. He no longer has his angelic abilities for this week. Right now, he is but a normal human…" Neku said with his eyes downcast to the ground. "B-but why would I care about my own killer anyway? Who will care about him?"

"Really? I thought he didn't actually mean to kill you. And look at the sad looks in your eyes. Anyone can see that you care about him deeply, Phones," Joe said. "Don't deceive yourself, boy."

"I said I don't care about him! And don't call me Phones!" Neku shouted.

"Don't be such a tsundere! If you don't treat someone you love well, you may regret when he dies, just like what happened to me," Joe said. "I had a girlfriend before. Of course I loved her, but I paid more attention to my work than to her. I was always thinking that I could compensate to her later on when I had more money. I even didn't visit her in hospital when she fell ill. Then, this incident happened, and she's… Well, there's no use lingering with the past anyway! Just enjoy the present and live in the present! From what Joshua did to you, it is clear that he is also interested in you, so you should develop your relation with him before it gets too late, got it?"

"I guess what you said makes sense…Wait! What do you mean by 'develop your relation'?" Neku exclaimed and blushed slightly

"Wow… I don't intend you to respond so strongly. But don't worry, I'm tolerant to gays!" Joe's lips curled up with a sinister curve.

"Stop it!"

"Well, I guess you protested too much… If I were you, I would keep silent so that I wouldn't draw any further suspicion," Hibiki replied calmly.

"Gah…" Neku wanted to protest, but he didn't so that Joe wouldn't continue to joke at him. Instead, he merely clenched his fist. _Why they said I was in love with the stupid jerk?_ Joshua was egregious and annoying, but then he couldn't possibly find any explanations to why he saved him repeatedly during the previous days, even risking his life. Maybe he was just being a manipulative bastard again, fabricating the attacks to gain his trust, like how he pretended to shield him against the deadly attack from Sho during the Game… or maybe he even created the whole story up – who can be sure he had really lost his angelic abilities? After all, it was him who initiated to fight against the Septentriones. Who knows what kind of crazy purposes he could be scheming at, like giving the whole world an ordeal himself this time? "Trust your partner," Hanekoma once said it, but how could he really brought himself to trust this eccentric, unpredictable man? But then… why was he getting so obsessed about someone he claimed not to trust at all? Why did he, out of impulsion, decide to join the fight together with him? He couldn't reach a conclusion – the threads in his mind was already hopelessly entangled up to such an extreme that he wanted to have a pair of scissors just to sever his whole brain.

"Neku? Are you okay? You looked like… like you are freaking out…" Hibiki raised his arms towards the boy.

"…I'm fine." Neku said with a contradictorily down tone. "It's only…it's like I just can't stop my paranoia… what the fucking hell is happening!" All a sudden, he was scratching and pulling out his hair with his hands.

"Hey!" This time, Hibiki clenched Neku's arms, and it wasn't after a prolonged struggle lasting almost ten seconds before he finally calmed down. "What's got into you?"

Neku hesitated for a while before saying. "I don't know… all a sudden, my mind freaked out… I… I need some solitude."

Before Hibiki and Joe could say anything more, the trace of Neku was already gone.

* * *

 **Tuesday, 16:30, JP's Nagoya Branch Residential Area**

"Goddamnit!" The room was suddenly filled with the sound of a blunt object hitting the wall.

Neku punched the wall of his room with such strength that he could feel his capillaries exploding and hear his bones cracking.

 _Why am I still freaking out over Joshua?! This isn't supposed to be happening!_ He took out his player pin, which was kept in his pocket on his jacket all the time. Even the player pin, with its eerie white symbol like a demon's head in the middle, looked sinister, as if cursing the player of his fate.

"Yo, Phones? Are you okay?" Suddenly, he heard a voice.

"Joe? Are you here?" Neku turned around. There was no one in his room.

"You still remember me?" This time, Neku realized that the voice was not coming from anywhere; it originated from his mind.

"W-who are you?!" Neku almost choked. It wasn't with a few breathes until he finally calmed down. "Are you… Hanekoma? Wait, why are you speaking to me like this? Aren't you supposed to be observing from the Higher Dimension?" He tried to close his eyes and think.

"Oh, so you know what's going on? Did Joshua tell you about everything?" His mind responded. Even without seeing him, Neku could already picture the Producer again in his mind: the guy in black vest, having his circular sunglasses, his right hand scratching his head as though thinking, his mouths giving out the cracking, tenor laughter, all while concealing his inner profundity.

"Joshua…" Neku hesitated upon hearing this name. Why him, among all people… why it was him who he was somehow being so aware about…

"Oh, no… it's looming again..."

"Huh?"

"Degeneracy. It's a disease being more and more prevalent. People's minds are decaying, gradually losing their self-control and succumbing to their fears… If it's not controlled swiftly, they will turn entirely insane, and it will be impossible to save their minds anymore."

"What? What's this even supposed to mean?" That's a mind screwer

"Listen." Hanekoma's 'tone' was suddenly filled with gravity. "I'm confined in the Higher Dimension, so I can't possibly interfere in anything except by telepathy like this, but I still want to help you, to stop you from degeneracy. Your fatal flaw is your distrust towards the others – just like how you were in the game, when you were unwilling to pair with anybody. After the game, you became more open to others, but your inner paranoia hasn't disappeared. In fact, it can't be completely eliminated – it is part of your nature to begin with. What you can do, however, is to control your fear so that you won't be seized by it. Trust your partner, like what I said to you a year ago. That's all I can help you right now. You can't escape degeneracy, but you can postpone it until after the seven days. Remember, if you can't control your degeneracy, then everyone will die once again, and the world will be lost forever." He accelerated during the final part, and after the word 'forever', his existence was suddenly gone like a phone line suddenly got flat.

A flatline, starting off dead, suddenly running uncontrollably berserk, only to return to the axiomatic silence in the end, wasn't this just how a human lived? No, it isn't only human; the entire world is just a rampaging flatline.

Neku looked at his player pin again. The pallid skull, the menacing orbit, the grim background, the inexorable demise… _Damn it! Why am I thinking about this? The degeneracy stuff… that's bullshit! Hanekoma! Get out! Give me evidences of this dumbshit degeneracy-or-whatsoever-as-you-call-it!_

No response. He only heard the voice of Tico from his phone, so cheerful to be horrifying.

He opened his phone, his hands shaken and soaked in his sweat. It was Hibiki and Neku, standing just beneath an anomaly composed of glittering crystal in the shape of a ring, with a laser beam in its middle burning the entire screen. No doubt, the laser literally vaporized the two victims before they could even feel the pain, and right now, the beam was breaking through the screen and piercing through his body into his deepest terror.

"Neku? Hey!"

"Aaah!" Neku crouched back. It was only Ronaldo, standing by the room door. "Haah, it's only you, Ronaldo." He gave a sigh of relief.

"It should be I who's asking what happened to you!" Ronaldo's hand was crossed on his chest.

"It's another death clip… on me and Hibiki…"

"Is that so…" He answered, "Come down to the control room. Everyone else is there. It's about the third Septentrione. We are going to finish it without anyone hurt."

 _Without anyone hurt, huh - before our bodies die, we will already be brain dead_. He chuckled.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the late update! Considering my strictly increasing school workload, the updates will probably be getting less and less frequent… and notwithstanding the fact that I need to essentially rewrite my manuscript for Tuesday and Wednesday…But I promise not to stop (that is, if anyone is actually reading this anyway…)


	11. Tuesday's Degeneracy II

**Tuesday's Degeneracy II**

 **Tuesday, 17:00, JP's Nagoya Branch Temporary Control Room, 0.421980**

The first thing Neku sensed, upon entering this room, was the choking, sooty smell of smokes.

It was dark, only illuminated by the electric purple of the display monitors all over the front wall. Some computers were lined up messily in the room as if a hurricane had just wreaked its mightiest havoc here. At the front of the room was a man, with a messed-up hair and a tattered jacket sitting behind the collection of monitors, simultaneously smoking and typing at an incredible speed not unlike a cashier fiddling over his abacus to count the days to come.

Ronaldo walked towards the man. "We're here."

The man turned around while still maintaining his pace of typing. "Ronaldo! Are they the kitties you kidnapped from Osaka? And not one, but two?! Incredible!"

"That's right. The two strongest confirmed summoners are standing right here. To be exact, there's one more, but he was injured severely and is now being treated by the JP's in the Osaka Branch."

He then noticed Neku staring towards the ground. He spoke with a faint reassuring smile. "That's why we are here – we are looking for a method that no one needs to die. Don't worry."

Neku looked back to Ronaldo. "Thank you… I'm fine."

Meanwhile, the man working gave out a scream of surprise. "Wow! Byakko and Suzaku, and also Fenrir and even Shiva! What kind of monsters you two are! But it seems that you can't control Shiva… is it a bug? Even I can't spot out the problem. I don't want to admit it, but it seems we must consult-"

Ronaldo interjected. "Stop it. We don't need help from the Hotsuin family. We'll demonstrate to him that we can solve the problem alone even without their help."

Joe, who was standing next to the door all the time, spoke. "Why are you suddenly so mad, Clicky? This is a bit … unlike you."

Ronaldo frowned visibly and finally gave out a small sigh. "Hmph… Sorry. I lost my temper just now. Anyway, let's just start already."

"Degeneracy…" what Hanekoma told Neku was still recurring inside his mind.

"Listen carefully. If the books from the Hotsuin family are correct, the third Septentrione, Phecda, will land here today, in Nagoya. We're going to stop it before it starts." Ignoring Neku's silent mumbling, Ronaldo went on.

"The resistance has to stand up itself. We have to let people know that we're capable of dealing with this threat, not the government, not the JP's, just the people. We can do it, and we're going to."

Hibiki asked. "How's that?"

"With my Hagen, and your Byakko and Suzaku, and also Neku's Fenrir."

"And my Orcus, and your…" Joe spoke while peering provocatively at a blonde wearing a nurse outfit next to him. She looked away from Joe, her face blushing inconspicuously. "…Sarasvati."

"Otome, aren't you JP's…" Hibiki hesitated.

"Isn't Phecda coming? Do you mean I should just sit back and watch it? But to clarify, that doesn't mean I want to join your company, okay?" The woman didn't back off from Ronaldo's stare.

Ronaldo said. "Sorry for getting you involved, but with our strong team, we will defeat the enemy without anyone's sacrifice!"

"Wait… now that you mention the third Septentrione, is it possible that the creature in their death clips is…" Joe's effervescent tone disappeared.

"What do you mean? A death clip?" Ronaldo asked hastily.

Joe. "Hibiki got a death clip showing them killed by a wave motion gun, and that thing can really be Phecda…"

"No… show me the death clip." Ronaldo, along with Otome, viewed the clip on Hibiki's phone. "…That must be it! You two, don't get into the fight!"

Hibiki, on the other hand, was scarcely fazed. "If it's a death clip, then it can be prevented. I can't back out now, since I am the strongest here. I'll just be more careful. Somehow, while I can't really explain it, I feel I won't die from this."

"What are you saying? I said we will defeat the enemy without anyone's sacrifice! How are we different from the Hotsuin family if we force you to fight despite the foreseen death? Now is not a time to get overconfident!" At a sudden, Hibiki was at a loss of words.

"Anyway, stay here. I will patrol around. Don't go away." Ronaldo left.

"I'll go with Clicky." Joe followed Ronaldo.

Now, only Hbiki, Neku, Otome and the guy working silently all along remained.

The nurse finally broke the prolonged silence. "Joining the fight only because you have the power… I'm not sure whether this is courage or recklessness, Hibiki"

"But seeing all the people around me dying… how can I stand back like this?" Immediately, Hibiki raised his tone?

Neku shouted. "Is this enough? All the while, you're saying to save the people around me, while only getting others involved into trouble! Can't you stop sticking your nose so randomly, like what happened yesterday-"He stopped abruptly upon mentioning what happened to Hinako yesterday.

"I know…"He whispered, his voice intangible and vibrating almost as if he was about to cry. "I know my power will just drag other people into it. That's why… I want to do this myself, without getting others in the way. Then, even if I died, it will be of no one's concern. I don't want to sacrifice anybody, and if anyone needs to be sacrificed at all, I hope it's me."

"Aren't you the one who said no sacrifice is necessary yesterday? Have you forgotten it, or did you just say this out of impulse? If you don't want any of it, start by yourself."

Hibiki's stared down for a while before turning back straight at Neku. "You're right, but… I am the strongest summoner here. If even I can't beat the next Septentrione, then how about the others? I guess this time, it's inevitable…"

"Then, I …" Neku turned away from Hibiki. "If you die, then it's likely that I'll die too. If you don't want to let anyone die, then I'll help you! Just… just don't think I'll leave you alone!"

"… Thank you. I guess you're a kind person, after all." Hibiki smiled. "However, is it really fine for you? You also got the death clip…"

"I am not as careless as you." Neku said.

Otome reckoned the two teenagers staring at each other. One loathed his power that brought demise, and the other embraced his power that obscured his visions, like two sides of polarity, the white and the black, the matter and the antimatter, the electric field and the magnetic field, giving out sparks upon their collisions.

Would these sparks mold them together, or would they only brought annihilation?

Or, conversely, they may not be that different. They were just like two sides of the same coin, both originating from a single source, reinforcing each other.

Suddenly, the door squeaked open, and Joe came. "There're some guys out here who said they are your friend-"

"Hibiki!" Daichi rushed in and embraced Hibiki so tightly as though he could die in any moment. "What are you doing alone, you fool?"

The others followed to enter the room. "Shiki, Beat, and everyone too… what are you doing here?" Neku was at a complete loss.

"What do you mean? It should be I who is asking you!" Beat held him in his arms with an almost suffocating strength. That's the warm grip when Beat encouraged him to go on during the game.

"Stop it… I can't breathe…" Neku struggled to loosen Beat's grip. "Wait. Where's Joshua?"

"He's still unconscious… You two make all of us so worried! Especially for Shiki and Io! But anyway, it's good to see you safe again." Eri smiled.

"Safe? Did you… did you also receive our death clips? We got them from each other also." Neku said.

"That's right. Therefore, just go now! Go back to Tokyo!" Shiki handed out her hand.

"No. I'm not going back." Hibiki rejected Shiki's invitation.

"And I will stay with Hibiki to keep him safe. I'll try to keep him away from fight." Neku followed.

Daichi was shocked. "But... why?"

Hibiki answered with such resolution that it almost sounded like it was none of his concern. "The next Septentrione, Phecda, will land here soon. I can't leave now… even though it is likely to be the thing that will kill me in the death clip."

"That's why I am also staying with Hibiki… In case anything bad happens, I can help him." Neku said.

Beat slapped Neku. "You fool! Just stay aside. We'll fight instead of you!"

Shiki also said in a strong voice. "That's right! Don't be silly. I'm not going anywhere without you... Neku, you're a great partner, but you've been enduring so much for so long, first in the game, then in the last two days… I'll also shoulder it with you! I was confused what I could do as myself yesterday, but I figured out that it isn't only me who can do something; rather, it's me, together with my friend, who can make a difference… no, Neku, you aren't just my friend anymore. You are like my… my brother, someone who has shaped who I am right now. I won't envy anyone anymore. I'll just fight alongside with you!"

"I know, but… Strong power can drag people into danger. Staying here with me is more dangerous than everything else. Neku and I are the two most powerful persons here, so we will handle it alone. But everyone, I don't want you to be-"

"What are you talking about?" Daichi grabbed Hibiki on his shirt. "This isn't about the power at all! How can I stand back while seeing my childhood friend in trouble?"

He released Hibiki and turned away from him. "At least… this is better than you two alone?"

"Daichi… you haven't changed a bit-"

An unexpected earthquake shocked everyone there. It was almost as strong as the one on Sunday, and the group could barely stand straight.

The man working broadcast to all parts of the Branch. "Ronaldo! Manifestation readings have been increasing sharply! A Septentrione is going to land soon!"

"Hurry and pinpoint its manifest position!" Ronaldo ordered through the system.

"Wait… This is…"

"Where?"

"The manifest position is … It is here!"

"Um… this is… what? Hibiki!" Before Daichi could notice it, Hibiki had already ran away.

"Wait! Damn it…" Neku immediately followed.

* * *

 **Tuesday, 17:30, JP's Nagoya Branch Control Room, 0.421445**

"What the hell…"

Neku entered the debris-laded control room, the manifest position of the third Septentrione. Situated at the very bottom of the building, corridors barred by metal fences spiraled up the walls, forming a well not unlike a trap for the summoners. Ahead of the tables, some upside-down, others tilted away, and the papers scattered all over the ground, at the opposite side of the room, there stood a tower of clocks, still ticking every second and counting the time left for humankind. And, above the tower, Phecda was staring down at him.

It was a ring, divine like the halo of the angel, glamorous like the crown of the queen, and yet capricious like the wheel of fortune. The three clean colors, red, yellow, and green, lined up to create the regular outline of this sculpture, with the golden ring at the center and rubies and emeralds interspersed on its rim. And its glow, a faint, intangible, ominous light showered onto the ground, only served to expose the abhorrence of the humankind beneath. Synchronous with its periodic rotation, the atmosphere was being compressed and expanded not unlike its heartbeat, coming from nowhere like an echo, and yet filling every single space of the room, even in the minds of the summoners. It was like defying the sacrilege of the unclean, levitating above the ground and looking down at the impure humans like a god casting its condescending glance onto the Earth.

Ronaldo and two other people sitting behind a heap of debris, by comparison, were like defects under this exquisite light. One of them looked like a junior high school girl, with her long, rose hair was tied loosely under a pallid fur hat and a scarf of the same shade adorned with small musical notes that couldn't vibrate as they were supposed to. Her licorice outfit, consisting of a shirt, a miniskirt, and long thigh-high leggings, were reluctant to be illuminated under the glaring light, and her gray eyes, full of apprehension and disbelief, were of no match to the brilliance of Phecda.

Next to her was a young, muscular man. Much of his short onyx hair was hidden under his gray cap. Beneath his leather jacket was a loose, ivory shirt with a logo of fish that was smiling too happily to be mocking him of what he had ran into. His dark eyes were fixated grimly at the angel, like how a cornered prey would look at an almighty predator.

"I can't allow you to wreak havoc anymore!"

All a sudden, the Septentrione was consumed in an infernal hell. The others turned around to see a phoenix-like creature about a storey tall behind Hibiki, giving off its wail to the sky. Its whole body was in a beautiful scarlet. It widened its wings, and feathers adorned with yellow spots like those of a peacock grew on its back.

"Incinerate all into ashes, Suzauk!"

Suzaku flapped its wings forward, and the inferno intensified.

"Damn it… Give assistance, Fenrir!"

Neku, who could barely keep up with Hibiki's pace, finally reached the command room and summoned Fenrir immediately. As soon as the hellfire ceased, Fenrir immediately leapt to the ring and lacerated Phecda with its claws.

Accompanying them were Peri casting a thunder, Ubelluris striking it with his arms repeatedly, Kikimora shooting arcs of shockwaves, Nekomata hitting it with her claws, and Kikuri-hime launched her magic beams, all in unison.

"Hibiki!" It was Daichi, standing alongside with Joe and the others on the corridor above.

"Daich…i!" Hibiki didn't expect his best friend, always cowering before, to come to the battlefield. But, so to speak, he also expected this to happen, for Daichi had never left Hibiki's side. He still hadn't forgotten their pledge of always staying near.

"I said I won't leave you alone!" He said. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he lost Hibiki, the one who was always serving as his light, giving him a direction on what he should do.

Suddenly, Io collapsed out of fatigue from her attacks, but she could feel hands holding her shoulders just in time. She turned back to see Otome, with a warm smile hanging on her face.

"Sarasvati!" A demon slowly emerged. She was dressed in an Indian outfit, with lime silks wrapping around her waist and chest, a ruby crystal adorned on her tanned forehead, a golden crown dotted with rubies, a silver necklace, and silver bracelets, all fighting to accentuate the prestige of the goddess. Meditating, her eyes were closed, and her lips were curving slightly upwards.

Sarasvati plucked the strings on her vina held on her hand, and Phecda was bathed in lights not unlike aurora, emerging from the hole of the vina, driving it to wobble around, as though it was struggling out of pain, and cracking its smooth surface.

"Sarasvati has acquired the ability of Drain, and she uses it to weaken the foe." Otome explained.

"Klang!" All a sudden, Phecda escaped the molasses of light with a blinding spark. The outer ring, consisting of the ruby and emerald outside, and the inner ring, consisting of a bare golden ring with small crystals growing inwards, separated from each other and began rotating in opposite senses, accelerating like a whirlpool absorbing the torrents of light swirled within, and concentrating the torrents into a singular sphere at its center, radiating lights of all colors and bright enough to blind Hibiki's sight.

"No… Suzaku!"

Ignoring the scarlet flame engulfing over, the sphere grew larger and larger, and its brilliance stronger and stronger at every instant, like a supernova about to explode. Suddenly, the sphere was cast into a beam, piercing through Suzaku, Kikuri-hime and Peri all at once.

The beam gradually tilted towards the ceiling, piercing through it with no resistance. All a sudden, the space was saturated with the banging of stones, the wail of demons, and the shockwave of explosion. Through the destroyed ceiling, the whole round moon could be seen, reflecting upon Phecda to tint it under the purity of white, and shading the humans under a deadly pale.

"No… The beam is the one in the death clip! It's really the Septentrione!" Upon remember it, Daichi shouted at horror.

"I can't lose now to the Septentriones… Fenrir!" Neku got hold of his phone again, and Fenrir leapt and struck the outer ring.

"No! We'll take care of Phecda now, so go away!" Nekomata jumped and scratched the inner ring, which caused fractures to it.

"I won't let you die!" Ubelluris struck the inner ring with his arms.

"Same here! Two heads are better than one, so four has got to be better than two!" Kikimora's magic orbs did not cease.

Phecda's perfect surface was not the least scarred by the unholy assault, and it levitated upwards and began charging again. Cobalt sparks danced around its rings, bombinating like the aloof chatter of spirits, all gathering toward its centre.

"It still has remaining charges? Watch out-" Ronaldo shouted.

"Neku!" Hibiki grabbed Neku's wrist, pulling him behind a heap of debris.

No sooner than the two sheltered themselves did Phecda suddenly grow dim. Then, almost immediately, millions of thunders spawned out of the ring, not leaving a single corner unscathed, hissing and banging so vehemently like the wrath of god themselves, and casting their benevolence to none of the demons.

At least, not until Fenrir unleashed its insanity to challenge the almighty indignation.

"You monster… Aaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhh!" Shaking off Hibiki's hand, Neku suddenly broke out to the open area. "I don't care if you are a god or a demon. Just die! Die! DIE!"

A magic circle, inexplicably darker as it might seem, loomed beneath Neku, spiraling upwards, and focusing at the sacrilegious demon not far ahead of him. The thunder spread through the miasma onto the demon and the boy, and it was fend off as easily as wiping out residual dust on their clothes.

"That's it! Now, everyone who stand on my path, die in this world of inferno!"

The room in blackout was suddenly saturated with the blinding light of fire swirling out around Fenrir as he growled into the sky with an unsurpassed loudness. The blaze flew into everywhere, moving with such sentience that they were almost demons themselves. Everyone was bracing themselves. The moment they spread to the outer ring, it cracked into pieces, giving out a faint light that was quickly immersed in the glaring fire.

"Neku! What's happening?!" Hibiki shouted, but receiving no responses.

 _All the things around me… I don't know what's going on!_

Without ceasing the fire, Fenrir growled once again, sending out a shockwave knocking the inner ring backwards.

 _Therefore, if I end all of this by myself, then I don't need to worry about them anymore!_

Fenrir leapt to the inner ring, plunging down to it, and lacerating it with its claw.

 _That's right! Just end everything NOW!_

Catching its balance as it landed onto the ground, it sprang out once again, giving the final strike to the ring as it disintegrated into shards.

But the inferno did not cease; it only rampaged even more fiercely at every instant, soaring up all the way to the top of the room into the dark sky. .

"Stop! At this rate, the whole Nagoya Branch will be destroyed!" Ronaldo shouted afar.

"Is that so…?" Neku muttered. "It doesn't matter. This whole frenzy… let it end now!"

"Neku! Please…!" Enduring the blazing smoke and covering her eyes with her right arm, Shiki stretched her body out of the fences of the corridor.

"Airi…!" The boy wearing a hat pressed the girl in rose hair onto the ground behind the pile of debris, shielding her from the fire.

"Jungo! What the hell's happening?! First the monster, and then this? That's…!" The girl named Airi shouted. Even when protected by the boy, she could feel the atmosphere getting hotter and hotter, burning her lungs inside out. No doubt, they would be dying soon.

"Damn it…!" Hibiki shouted with a shaking voice as he crouched onto the ground. The physical agony was barely endurable, but it was the mental agony that was the most deadly. "Why, even after the Septentrione is gone…" He could feel the liquid almost overflowing from his eyes instantly evaporated amidst the heat. _The world… I couldn't put it back onto the right track… Neku, if I had stopped you from going here, then would this…? It's all my fault…_

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the fire ceased, and Fenrir was knocked down. Standing in front of it was a white beast and a black humanoid. The white beast was about the same size as Byakko and Fenrir. Its beige furs were neatly tidied, but its mane grew wildly around its neck. Its blood red eyes glowed sinisterly, and it gave a long howl that could intimidate even Fenrir.

On the other hand, the black humanoid had a dark blue skin. His head was like a dog, with pointed ears and a long jaw. His crimson eyes were cold and disinterested like the ones of a judge, and the silver balance held on his hands was like weighing the wrongdoings of the sinners.

"Don't create too much trouble to the others."

"Degeneracy… I thought you could contain it, but you actually allowed this to happen, Neku?"

Hibiki looked up to see two silhouettes on the top of the clock tower. One of them, with his white hair swayed gently by the wind, stood straight with the aura of a king, his lilac eyes glaring down to him without any compassion. Hibiki could immediately recognized him: Yamato.

And standing next to the ruler, Hibiki could see another young boy, his curled, white hair shining in the darkness, and the curves on his lips, like a scythe, emanating an aura of deadliness. He was Joshua.


	12. Tuesday's Degeneracy III

**Tuesday's Degeneracy III**

Joshua recalled what happened earlier that day.

 **Tuesday, 14:00, JP's Tokyo Branch Control Room**

Joshua was escorted by Makoto to the Control Room.

He regained his consciousness half an hour ago. His back still ached out of the burning wound, and he felt he could faint in any moment again. Hearing the voicemail of death clip, he sat up, stretched his arms, in a great pain almost enough to rip his arms apart, to his phones on a drawer barely in reach and, upon seeing the name of Neku, immediately collapsed to his bed again. Then, Makoto, who had been waiting outside the ward and just heard the banging sound, entered the room told him how the whole party was missing and that Yamato wanted to see him as soon as he woke up. Predicting Yamato will tell him something about Neku, Joshua agreed to go with her despite his body suggesting otherwise.

His whole body, from his head to his toes, had barely recovered from the wound yesterday. His legs were like being struck with hammers. His stomach was aching, and the gastric juice was surging up to corrode his esophagus. A virtual claw was tearing his back apart. His arms were paralyzed as if by an electric shock. A agonizing voice of someone enchanting was resonating within his auditory canal. He thought he could see a crimson haze clouding his visions, invading into his consciousness and trying to knock him back to slumber.

"Can you tell me now what you are planning? I'm not a patient person, you know, so don't let me wait for so long." Joshua inquired bluntly, trying his best to mask his physical strain

"Be patient. I need you as the countermeasure. Hand me your phone. The demon summoning app will be upgraded." Yamato ordered a worker to take away Joshua's phone. "We have just prepared an upgrade for your app. Now, I will tell you the Septentrione we will be facing today. Makoto."

"Yes. Display the image on the main monitor." Makoto ordered. The image of the ring-shaped demon as in the death clip soon filled the entire giant monitor spanning over Joshua's vision in a great brightness enough to make him feel disoriented.

"This is Phecda, the third Septentrione. It is immune to all attacks when staying in this form. In order to damage it, we must attack it when its rings were separated," Yamato said. "In this form, the outer ring is immune to physical attacks but vulnerable to magic attacks, while the inner ring is exactly the opposite. However, Phecda is the most dangerous when the rings were separated – this is done in preparation of the laser attack, which is the attack that killed Hibiki and Neku. Since Hibiki and Neku don't know how to attack Phecda, they will just waste all their energies trying to beat Phecda in vain when it is in the full form."

"Then, you are calling me here so that we can land an ambush on it? That's perceptive of you." His voices were raspy and strained.

"You're right. See how long Phecda needs to charge for the laser attack in the clip? It will be undefended in this moment, so we will use this chance to land out attacks. Your phone upgrade is finished." Yamato said. A worker gave Joshua's phone back to him, and the monitor then switched to display Anubis. "You just received Anubis. He has a high offensive power in magic, so you will be in charge of attacking the inner ring. On the other hand, my Cerberus is stronger in physical attack, so I will attack the outer ring. However, a problem is that the train station is now unusable since an earthquake has occurred there. We will then use the Terminal instead. How's the repairing process of the Terminal?"

Suddenly, the monitor was a turned off, and what came from the speaker was a hazy female. "I'm doing. The program was screwed up, and even the backup was cleared… although it seems to be me who caused this whole mess."

"I want it to be repaired as soon as possible. Yoshida Kiryu and I need to go to Nagoya to deal with Phecda," Yamato said.

"Huh? You and the boy nearby will go by the Terminal? I'm rebuilding it from scratch now, so it can take quite a bit of time – 3 hours maybe – to finish the tuning. And even with that, I can't guarantee that it's perfectly tuned… I guess you will lose your arm at least. Is it really so important to save the two kids named Hibiki or Neku? Or … do you have some special interests in them?"

"Silence. They are merely two important pawns to me. I don't have any confidence in the ability of the others to avert their deaths, so I will do so myself. Joshua, will you go with me even with the potential risk? I can deal with Phecda alone; I merely asked for your help to play safe."

Joshua thought for a few moments before responding. "Yes. I will go too." He couldn't take it much longer, but he knew he had no other options. If he was to save Neku, he must go his own. Everyone did things out of their own intentions and greed, and being too trusting would render you painfully vulnerable to the manipulation of others. He experienced this in Shomonkai – the cult members were always fighting against each other and even innocent people, not out of their ideologies, but merely out of their own personal benefits. They denounced each other, seized the powers of demons, and even used all sorts of unscrupulous means to get others down. Joshua knew this brutal fact, so he could also gladly sacrifice anyone blocking his path. Neku was not an exception; he was merely someone Joshua could relate to. He wanted to save him now, but if necessary, he was absolutely dispensable.

Makoto tried to protest. "B-but you have just waked up! This will put too much strain on your body-"

Yamato interrupted. "This is his choice. If he overestimated his own ability, then that's it."

Joshua added immediately. "Well, I don't really trust you, so I guess I can't leave the whole rescue matter to you. I do have some special interests in Neku, anyway."

"Hmm? So you two are seized with a 'special' interest to save the two kids even risking your lives? That's interesting…" Fumi giggled inaudibly. "I'll notify you when the Terminal is ready. I may need your power of dragon stream to compensate for the loss of power. Don't get your hopes up, though."

After the voice dialing was turned off, Joshua asked Yamato, "I have a question: what do you plan to do with Polaris?" His back was screaming in pain, and his legs were almost strained up to their limits. _Just hang on for one more question_ , he thought, and then his body could retaliate in whatever means they want.

"Build a world of meritocracy, a world where the strong and righteous rules." Yamato said flatly.

"Hmm… I see your logic. After all, the system of Reapers and Angels is also one of meritocracy. There are so many people that are not worth their lives, too… However, will it be a bit too… restrictive on the imaginations of some people?" _Just one more minute…_

"Imaginations are meaningless. You only need power, nothing else, to prosper. If you should refuse to obey me… I'll kill you after the ordeal."

"I'll see… It may be me who will kill you, though. I look forward to see what will happen, hee hee." Forcing his facial muscles to make a smile, he turned away and walked out of the room, still holding his back ramrod straight and his pace steady.

The moment he heard the automatic door of the control room shut, he fell onto the ground and entered oblivion. The last thing he felt was the aura of an unearthly being, covert, but definitely existent, slowly approaching him.

 **Tuesday, 16:30, Chief's Room**

The Chief's study, located at the very core of the JP's building, was now hosting two people, the host sitting on the chair next to his desk, and the guest standing upright next to the door.

Contradictory to the majestic status of the Chief, the study, with a size comparable to that of a typical residential dormitory, was modestly adorned. Next to the beige door segregated into nine rectangles by two rows and columns, wooden bookshelves, on which books and files were laden so tightly that virtually no gap could be spotted, extended all the way through the three walls, until they reached the wall facing the clock tower, on which pallid lights shower through the metal grates shaped in rhombus onto the desk just behind.

The desk was the only furniture besides the bookshelf in the study. However, again in contradiction to the minimalistic design of the room leaving almost no room for breathing, on the ebony desk stood a porcelain chessboard, monochrome like the rest of the room. It was neatly glazed, but the slight cracks running inconspicuously through its surface suggested that its age. All the pieces were placed on their own places except the black king, which was held at Yamato's right fist.

His eyes fixated on that king piece, he spoke to Alcor in a voice as inorganic as the periodic clicking of gears rotating in the clock tower. "Why are you messing up with this again?"

Alcor answered, still holding his typical smile. "You mean Nicaea? I've told you. Humans are too fragile to survive the ordeal. It's such a pity that the humankind is helpless against the Septentrione."

Yamato raised his voice. "Don't play dumb. You, among all the people, know what I mean."

The smile on Alcor faded. "And you, among all the people, understand what I am seeking. The road you are walking along… it will only lead to darkness. I don't want to see you, Hibiki, and the others trapped in it for eternity. That's why… as my first friend, I want to help you. I want to help you find a better path."

"Hmph… Why are you so confident in them? I bet they will either agree with my ideology or be killed by me. Or worse… they can end up like Hibiki."

"Or you. Or me." Alcor stopped for a while. "I am only experimenting with what I can do. I want to see… I want to see whether my actions can make a difference to humanity."

Yamato chuckled. "Make a difference, huh? It sounds dubious from a Septentrione like you, Alcor."

"I know it… As a Septentrione who have received consciousness, am I a human? Am I still a machine serving for Polaris? Or, am I just a Boltzmann brain, wandering in the endless chaos of time and space, not knowing what to do?"

"I don't care." Yamato stood up and put the king onto Alcor's palm like how a borrower returned his thing to its lender. "Just become one of my pawns, and I will show you my ideal is the only correct thing. You will be the best pawn I can ever find."

Alcor refused the piece. "…You haven't changed, like when we first met."

Alcor still vividly remembered the day when they first met each other ten years ago, when Yamato was just a prodigious kid. The dainty petals of cherry blossoms danced along with the warm spring breeze, forming a curtain as delicate as snow beyond the window of the study of the Yamato mansion. Yamato, putting aside the book _Parallel Universe and Ekpyrotic Theory_ on the desk, decided to entertain the unexpected guest with a chess match. He lost.

"Hmph… I will never admit losing to someone like you. Match again." Yamato said.

"I see…" Alcor cast a curious smile. "You are a self-sufficient ruler, aren't you?"

"That's right. I am the only one who possesses the power to rule Japan. I believe in myself, and only in myself." Yamato's tone, albeit not yet deepened out of puberty, was orotund of a majestic emperor.

"Is that so? Your self-righteousness, rejecting other people and other possibilities… is it really a good thing? I have been observing humans for thousands of years, and I have already witnessed countless rulers, some like you and some unlike you. Which of them were the best? I don't know. Still, I want to see how a ruler like you can guide humankind, so that you can teach me how humans should be like."

"Then sit aside and watch how I will lead my nation to the state it should be."

A very, very long time, so long that Alcor could barely keep track of, had passed since then. Yamato had become even more fixated upon his path of meritocracy, and Alcor had become even more perplexed about what humans – what he – were supposed to be like.

"I wonder… are what we doing really a good thing-"

"Enough…!" Yamato clenched his fist, barely able to restrain his shout. "I don't want to hear this anymore! After such a long fight, you are telling me to sway from my path? Gah… I don't know what's happening. It seems… it seems that even I am gradually losing myself."

"It's okay." Alcor gently embraced himself around the Chief like a brother caressing his siblings. He whispered to Yamato's ear. "As obscured by the degeneracy as you may be right now, you are still my Shining One – someone whose very existence can sway all the others' thoughts."

"Shine for me. That's enough."

 **Tuesday, 16:45, JP's Tokyo Branch Terminal, 0.037491**

Joshua was once again inside a room he couldn't be more familiar with. It was the room he was confined all the time when he was alive. He remembered them all – the wooden walls, the damp atmosphere, the smell of incense, the suffocating silence, they were all engraved into Joshua's soul as deeply as lacerations on a stone.

Joshua rose from his mahogany chair. He wanted to leave the room.

 _No._ He repeated to himself. _No. I can't leave yet._ It was still daytime. The sentinel would be unforgivingly tight.

He gave a small glimpse to the crumbling pile of books on his desk, so high that they almost looked like a dangerously designed ornament but not actual books to be read. _Besides, I am the only one who can change the world._

Joshua knew he must only rely on himself to fulfill the responsibilitiy to change the world, an idea imprinted on his mind since childhood. Others, cult members and other strangers alike, could not be depended upon – everyone only acted to maximize their own benefits. That's the norm of the society, he himself included.

 _I alone will be enough. I must know more to prepare myself for every possible scenario. And then, I will use everyone as my tools to lead the world to a better state._

 _Even if that means… I have to be alone… for the rest of the fight…_

"Hey, there, when are you going to wake up?" It was the voice of a woman, an alto, almost robotic one.

"Ugh…" Squeezing his eyes, Joshua woke up to find himself lying on a rigid metallic platform. He put the JP's jacket lying over his poorly insulated body away to the ground and rose up.

The pallid lights could not illuminate the darkness, and were absorbed into the bottomless void below the platform. The emotionless cracking voices of machines working towards their limits only make the vast chamber more desolate. Chills from the air-conditioning system used to maintain a constant temperature for machinery stroked through his hair, bringing forth a wave of loneliness.

And kneeling just besides him, a woman wearing a snow white, diaphanous cheongsam was typing on her laptop on her ground. No doubt, she was the one attending him for the past hours. He found her outlook familiar, but he couldn't remember when he had seen someone like that before. Maybe she reminded me of Konishi, he thought.

"Fumi…?" Joshua attempted to spoke, only to find his voice so coarse that even he himself could barely put up with it. "Have I… have I seen you before?"

The woman sighed without turning to him. "Hah… I don't know, but I hope you'll be a bit more grateful over how I gave you my jacket to keep you warm, since, you know, this place isn't one of the warmest places you can find. Your wounds on your back reopened, and it was a real pain to tend to them again… So, please don't make any unnecessary move, lest any disaster like this will happen again."

"Then, you're stopping me to go to Nagoya…?" Joshua struggled. He could barely stand straight, but he knew he must go there. _Neku is a good proxy who he must save. A very good one. Nothing else._

"Nuh-uh. It's the other way round: I want you to go there."

"What… do you mean?" Joshua inconspicuously raised his tone.

"Are you aware of what's happening? About degeneracy and so on?" Fumi turned towards Joshua, and her onyx gray eyes, lethargic as a koala and yet sharp as a hawk at the same time, were now stabbing through him.

"…Nope." Joshua shook his head. He only knew what's happening through the mouth of Alcor, and he had a gut feeling that Alcor was withholding some crucial information. The scientist in front of him was no different. What could they be plotting? Joshua had an impression that they were masterminding something very important.

Fumi gave a lazy sigh. "I expected that Alcor or Hanekoma would save me some trouble of explaining the issues… Fine, I'll do this myself. Among the paths that lead to futures of doom, I want you to find one that can end the cycle of suffering."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll get it later once I explain it further. And first, I want you to…" Fumi hesitated.

"I want you to… stop Neku from his degeneracy."


	13. Tuesday's Degeneracy IV

**Tuesday's Degeneracy IV**

 **Tuesday, 18:00, JP's Nagoya Branch Control Room, 0.413186**

"Yamato…?" Hibiki was at a loss of words.

"Joshua…" Neku hissed. "Why are you here? I don't want to see you… Get away!"

"When did I tell you that you can die? Don't create such a trouble to me." Joshua smiled sinisterly.

"Finish it, Cerberus." Yamato ordered.

"Not like you need to order me to do so. Anubis."

A violet circle of beam suddenly surrounds Fenrir, tightening its grip as the wolf started to struggle. He shook around, his wail piercing through the sky, but the circle only continued to corrode into his skin as if nothing was there.

"Hmph… I didn't imagine you can use its power in this way." Yamato smirked. "It's time, Cerberus."

The lion then strode up the clock tower as if it was flat ground, reached its middle, and then plunged down to the immobilized wolf.

"Damn it… damn it damn it damn it!" Neku shouted. "Get outta my face!"

Paralyzed by Anubis's attack, Fenrir growled and leaned his head back, preparing for a headbutt against the lion. Cerberus, however, swiftly changed its projectile, landing onto the ground, bouncing up again to the back of Fenrir, and only unleashed its claws till then.

Letting go a final cry, the rampaging demon disappeared into nothingness.

"Hah… that's it?" Yamato mumbled, jumping down from the clock tower agilely.

"What happened… Aaaaarghhhhhh!" Neku, suddenly snapped back to his consciousness, now realized what he had done and gave out a cry of anguish. A while ago, seeing the dark thunder, he suddenly lost his control on his mind and, instead, let his instincts dominate himself. Unable to accept what he just did, he collapsed onto the ground, his face buried in his own hands, and his azure eyes dilated as if he was already dead.

"Neku! Are you alright?" Joshua followed Yamato and rushed towards Neku, only to collapse only Neku.

"Joshua! Are you okay?" Neku quickly supported Joshua's arm on his shoulder. His lips were pallid, and his body was as cold as a corpse.

The white moon was like a mirror. On Joshua, the moon added an extra hue of lifelessness. However, on Neku, the pale moonlight only made his golden hair stand out of the background more, emphatically showcasing his savageness inside his heart.

"Ugh… just overexerted myself a little bit… You shouldn't worry about me, especially considering how you almost died just now." Joshua held himself against Neku and maintained his smile.

"Stop talking! You should rest now!"

"And you are telling me to rest when, just a moment ago, you were running crazy and almost killing everyone else?" Joshua gave out a weak chuckle.

"This… I didn't know what's happening… I DON'T know what's happening!" Neku suddenly shouted again.

"You two. Did you arrive in time?" All a sudden, the monitors on the wall displayed images of Fumi. Neku couldn't help dismissing the odd feeling of familiarity upon seeing the image of the scientist again. It was like they had met some time ago… but when?

Yes, that's it. Fumi just reminded him of Konishi, the Iron Maiden who should be deader than dead now and – for god's sake – reborn again, if what Joshua said was right.

Otome leaned her body towards the monitor. "Professor Kanno? How did you connect the communication?"

"Taken back."

"What…" Ronaldo clenched his fists.

"After all, you loosened your guard just then."

"Did you pick this timing at the very start…"

"In the same way as yours."

"They… shouldn't they be in Tokyo? How could they… And shouldn't Joshua be resting there? When has he recovered?" Daichi asked.

"The Terminal should be still being repaired. It shouldn't be usable now…" Ronaldo added.

"The remaining mana was replenished by the Chief, but it is scarcely enough for two people… I guess you're too wary about Neku, Chief."

"A leader must take all possible risks into account, just like all of you." He turned towards Neku.

"Neku? What do you mean?" Hibiki turned to the monitor. "You predicted this, don't you? Then why are you still allowing him to do this?" He suddenly clenched his fist and growled.

"Well, I hope you can be aware of the fact that it is you who dragged Neku to this in the first place. And honestly, we don't have so much time to remind you of what will happen when all of you are desperately trying to avoid communication. Anyway, don't you think this should serve as a nice warning to all of you?"

"Warning…?! What else do you know? Tell me now!" Hibiki stomped to the ground.

Fumi gave a small, lazy sigh. "Considering how I took care of Joshua earlier, would you do me a small favor to explain the concept to the others, Alcor?"

Before anyone could gave any response, a man, with a snow white hair and a striped cloth in red and black emerged on top of the heap of debris at the center of the room. "So you knew I have been lurking around here, Fumi?" His voice was diaphanous and distant, as if it was none of his concern. "Well… I guess this is predictable, anyway…"

"What… what are you?! What are you doing here?!" Airi, releasing herself from Jungo's arms, pointed her finger at the sudden visitor.

"Alcor, the anguished one. I guess I can't keep the answer for too long-"

"Answer my question! WHAT are you?" Interrupting Alcor, Airi was about to rush to Alcor to give him a punch.

"What an annoying human." Bifrons suddenly appeared besides Alcor and shot a fireball towards her. Jungo quickly took her on his arms and leapt away.

"Are you okay…?" Jungo said softly.

"That monster!" The girl cried.

"Fine. That shall do it." Alcor called Bifrons off and continued. "What Neku has just run into is known as degeneracy, an anomaly causing people's mind to break down and run insane. If this remains untreated, one can easily become very dangerous. This is exacerbated by the fact that the power of demons are controlled by the strength of imagination of humans, so the negative thoughts overflowing out of a degenerate human can easily be fueling the demons and… as a result…" He stopped, turning towards Neku. The innocent boy could feel the rest of the group's gaze striking right to his mind.

It was a long pause before Beat, of all people, broke the silence. "How-how dare you ostracized Phones just because of what just happened-"

"If a degenerate conic section is a straight line and degenerate matter can collapse to form a singularity, then degenerate humans…" Fumi hesitated.

"A degenerate human… will be a monster."

Now, the moon was sharpening the curves of horror on the survivors.

"You two… Why did you know about degeneracy?" Neku turned to the screen, his sky blue eyes piercing like knives. "Hanekoma told me just this afternoon. Tell me, how much do you know? What the hell are you planning? Tell me!"

"Oh, so it's Hanekoma?" Fumi smirked. "Expectable if it's him, though."

"Don't go sidetrack! Tell me!"

"I guess I should unveil this anyway." It's Alcor. "I am going to create a third path, Neku."

Neku did not reply. Or, more correctly, Neku did not know what to reply.

"I want to see how humans will react under different kinds of situations, so I decided to manipulate the happening. I distributed Nicaea, and –"

"Wait… so you are the one who distributed Nicaea?" Hibiki asked.

"That's right. Seeing the entire humanity being wiped out by the Septentriones with absolutely no means to counter it… isn't it too cruel? Therefore, I made this app and distributed it. It's quite a surprise that I can gather so many people, though."

The moon was concealed behind the nimbus cloud, and the room was consumed in dark again, as if it was resonating with the shock coming out from Alcor's mouth.

"He's the maker of the demon summoning app…" Ronaldo said.

"That guy… he created the Nicaea website?" Io muttered to herself.

"It seems I've sidetracked…" Alcor sighed. The cloud was lifted away from the moon again, casting a pale shade on the ground. "Anyway, I can also see from the Akashic Record that Yamato will eventually succeed in establishing his ideal world. Hibiki and the others ultimately cannot do anything. However, that's a world I feared – it rips away all possibilities of humankind. Consequently, I want to enlist your interference, Neku, Joshua, and the others as well. I talked to Joshua before the earthquake so as to save Neku and the others - Without your help, Neku and the others would die from the attack of demons."

"But then, why did you choose us but not the others?"

"I have tried. You can say… I'm experimenting with what I can do to humanity. I want to see what the imagination of humans can lead to…"

"Imagination?! Why do you know the term? Are you… an angel?" Neku asked. He was way too powerful and way too weird to be a normal human.

"Yes. I was the Composer of Chiyoda."

"Composer… what do you mean?" Ronaldo shouted. All people in this room were shocked, but the surprise could be differentiated into two kinds: the confusion from those who haven't heard the names and the alarm from those who have heard them. But Yamato was unfazed; he merely gave a smirk.

"You was? What happened?"

"That said, I'm not a real Composer like Joshua - it was merely a cover for my true identity. I'm Alcor, the eighth Septentrione, and the sword of Polaris."

"What?" This time, the whole group was unanimously in terror.

"Don't worry. I'm not hostile. I was somehow differentiated from the unified will when I developed my emotions. So, Neku and Joshua, which side will you choose? Yamato's? Hibiki's? Or will you seek your own path?"

Hibiki's widened mouth expressed his angst when he heard Alcor mentioning his side. "My path? What do you mean?"

"I suppose you'll know it later on… predictably on Saturday. I hope not, though."

"Are you demeaning what I think?" Hibiki raised his voice. "I just want to save others from the suffering… is that wrong?"

"You are not wrong, but the issue is much more complicated than what you think right now. I hope, though, that when you finally understand what I mean, you will not lose your noble will again."

Alcor then turned to Yamato. "Yamato, I'm sorry for all I have done. I just … I just want to see your possibilities shine again, like how you did when you was younger."

"Finishing your gibberish?" Yamato broke his silence. "Then I will have my speech. I am going to build a world of meritocracy. Can't you feel how the world is rotten inside out? The fools climbed up the ladder of power, while the talented were waste under things like 'human nature' and 'ethics!' Families that drag children away from their dreams, friends that intoxicate the others with their dim-witted mindsets, colleges that admit students based on their race, governments that constrict the functioning of more sensible citizens… They are just impeding the development of the society! Before long, those who have the abilities will either be homogenized or outright marginalized. Is that fair? Is this stagnant society with no force being able to push it forward one you want?

Meritocracy is different. Imagine a society where human relationships are no longer a limiting factor for people's talents and where people can do all things freely to utilize themselves to their fullest. Money will no longer be a problem, so as race, gender, background and social norm. People will be walking around, not under the unresolvable dissatisfaction over the society, but with a full smile over their accomplishments. Those whose folly renders them incapable of salvation will be discarded, unlike how they manage to interrupt the cycles of progression in the present state. The society will progress at an unprecedented rate with all the united contributions of humanity. Isn't this the very utopia we are seeking, one without irrational conflicts and inequality, and one in which the worthy can lead a meaningful life? Can you see it, Neku Sakuraba?"

His speech was so eloquent that Neku wondered whether Yamato had it recited, but he was nonetheless stunned by how he agreed with it anyway. Trust had never been a motto for Neku – he had already seen too much examples for him to doubt the intents of the others. His mother was a pilot, and his father a businessman who was working overseas, and so family remained an alien concept to him - he could not even remember their faces. At school, with his solitary and aloof demeanor, Neku was a constant target for bullies from students and hatred from teachers. Not to mention the fact that it was him who killed his dearest friend, the only one to whom he could related to. He – or she, for time had already diluted his memory, and the recovery of memory from Shibuya's Game was incomplete – died in a car accident then he was on the way to see him at the Udagawa Back Street. He was taken the blame for it, and he knew this was the case, but a part of him kept telling him that it was the world, not him, which was wrong. He was a lone wolf, living, doing his work and understanding the world all by himself. He knew that everyone only care for their own survivals, and blind trusts are foolish. That changed during Shibuya's Game, in which he learnt the importance of trust, but that was not enough to change his impressions on the world. Indeed, if meritocracy could be established, wouldn't it be a wonderful way to dispel all the hypocrisy haunting humankind, instead letting them compete against each other in a fair background? He doubted.

Yamato walked down the stairs towards Hibiki and the others. "You're as insistent as always… but that's irrelevant – I'll achieve my goal this time. Tomorrow's Septentrione, Megrez, will appear in three locations at the same time. Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. Neku and Joshua, I entrust Osaka to you. And Hibiki, you will have Nagoya."

"Yamato… I'm not sure whether I agree with you, but I will fight in my own will. I will not merely entrust my power to you, until I find out what's correct." Neku said when Yamato passed through him.

"You'll find out that I am the correct one." Yamato didn't turn back and continued walking.

"I don't intend to be one of your pawns. I will fight to protect people myself. On top of that, I'll defeat all enemies. And after that, if you intend to create a misguided future, I'll stop you."

"Will you? You may not know it now, but what you have done before only created even more misfortune. If you'd listened to me-"

"What are you saying? I may be too weak now, but I'll correct myself, and, someday, I'll guide the others towards a future better than what you suggest!"

"Then, I hope you won't fail this time. Mr. Former detective, you stay here and maintain command."

"Are you saying I should obey you?" Ronaldo shouted.

"That's right. Your careless actions have left the Nagoya Branch with little remaining firepower. Even with the extra people Alcor has bought, they are barely sufficient. If you all don't fight tomorrow, Nagoya will be destroyed."

"I'll slay the enemy, but I won't let mankind's future play out whatever you want!"

"If you can survive, that is. Neku and Joshua, I look forward to your response."

Before an extra word could be spoken, Yamato had already faded into the corridor of the Branch, seeming endless in the blackout.

"And, take this." A projectile was suddenly swung onto Neku's hand. It was a pin, of a size that Neku could enclose it with his hand. But what stood out from the royal blue background was beyond his wildest imagination: a golden ring, embedded with ruby and emerald crystals, its hollow center radiating cobalt sparks that spread through the whole ring, almost extending out of the pin. That's Phecda.

That's the weight of Neku's insanity, the weight of what he had almost done to the others, the weight which he almost needed to bear forever if it were not out of Joshua's intervention.

"That's the pin created from Phecda's residual power. It may come into use sooner than you think. Or, maybe later than you think." With his undecipherable smirk hanging on his face, he disappeared, not leaving a single trace.

What the HELL was that… Neku thought as he began to take a close look at the pin.

"Neku? Is that… a pin? Speaking of which… I have also got one, from Merak." Shiki shouted to Neku from the corridor stories above. "Here!" Another projectile was shot down towards him. Above the celeste background, the familiar figure resembling a fish's tail spanned the pin. From its ventral opening, a snow white beam emanating, bringing forth snows gliding down the pin. That's Merak for sure.

"I have a similar one too. It simply appeared out of nowhere when I defeated Dubhe two days ago…" Hibiki stretched out his hand to Neku, holding a scarlet pin engulfed in blazing fire. At the core of it was the Septentrione not unlike an ice cream – Dubhe.

Pins? There's something odd… He thought he could see something worth his attentions.

"Hey!" It was a grumbling Airi, distracting Neku from his investigations. "Can anyone explain what the hell is all the fuss supposed to mean?"

Jungo dragged Airi back. "Sorry. Airi… is in a bad mood."

Airi's elbowed immediate stabbed backward to Jungo's stomach, knocking him behind. "Don't make me sound like the bad guy here, Jungo! Anyway… I'm Airi Ban. And that's Jungo, who was scouted with me."

"I'm Jungo…" The stoic man walked towards Neku and Joshua and knelt down, looking attentively at the distraught Neku with his gentle onyx eyes. "Are you… okay?"

"Yes..." Neku's eyes were downcast. "I'm sorry for what I did before… I didn't know what's happening to me…"

"It's… It's not like you are trying to do this in the first place right?" Airi stammered, her face in a slightly reddish hue. "And do you really think we can't understand what that striped guy talked about, you idiot? Degeneracy and so on… that's not your fault, right? Anyway, can you tell me now what the pins on your hand are?"

"It's hard to explain, but… it's something that provides you with combat abilities known as Psychs. It's not something that anyone can use, though, and its powers are ineffective against Septentriones anyway…"

"But Josh, why you think we get the pins…" Neku stopped midway upon realizing Joshua did not respond at all. His weight was entirely pressed upon Neku's shoulder as though he was already dead. In retrospect, he, as obnoxiously arrogant as he was, did remain entirely silent during the previous confrontations… Could he be…?

"Josh! Hey! JOSH!"


	14. Wednesday's Necrosis I

**Wednesday's Necrosis I**

 **Wednesday, 12:00, JP's Nagoya Branch Temporary Men's Changing Room, 0.434801**

Hibiki was standing in the center of the debris. All the familiar landmarks that he could name had been reduced to the heap of junk piling meters high just beneath his feet. Surrounding him were disfigured bodies, some of whom were once his close friends, others whom he could name, and still some others whom he had just seen moments ago.

What had him done? Why were all the others dead? He wondered. Had him done something wrong?

The more he thought about this, the more he was convinced that he was the culprit. He couldn't save other's lives. He let them die. He should have been among them, but he left them behind.

His knees collapsed onto the ground, his aimless gaze wandering on the corpses around him. He knew he was the one to blame for all the deaths. He cheated them. He didn't have the right to be standing here.

Wait. The more he looked at the people he once knew, the more he found them unfamiliar. The physique, the clothing, the face, he recognized all of them, but they looked… nuanced. They weren't real to him.

Could they be merely impostors? Such thoughts flashed within his mind.

That must be it. The people lain down before me were merely impostors, and their deaths trivial. All the people he knew must be hiding somewhere, playing a prank on him. He caused none of their deaths.

He couldn't be the guilty one. All he had done was correct.

He stood up, pushing aside the bodies blocking his way, and moved on with a relieved smile.

Hibiki sprang up from his bed. He was inside his bedroom in the JP's Nagoya Branch. The room was dark, and he could not even see his fingers. He looked at his sunflower-shaped phosphorescent watch, which was a gift from Daichi at his eleventh birthday. It said "5:23a.m."

"What kind of a dream was it…"

 **Wednesday, 12:00, JP's Nagoya Branch Temporary Men's Changing Room, 0.432010**

"Just why did you come yesterday, you stupid, suicidal airhead?" The voice of Neku echoed in the miniscule changing room. Only Neku and Joshua were sitting in the benches.

"Someone's ungrateful for my health-risking rescue. Why just can't you be a little bit more compassionate?"

"You fainted yesterday, and you don't think it's problematic?"

"We've just had our health checks, and there's no report that I am in a poor state." Joshua gave an inconspicuous smile. He wasn't feigning it: after yet another night of healing and – much to his surprise – Neku's overnight tending of his wounds, he could feel his power returning to him.

When he awoke in his bed again this morning, the first thing he could see was a fatigued Neku preparing a stew at the stove nearby. Neku's sleeveless vest was soaked in sweat, and the dark circle was apparent near his sockets. No doubt, he was taking care of him this whole night without anyone's help.

"You finally wake up, Josh." Neku was smiling.

"Are you… tending me the whole time without resting?" Joshua was still in the grogginess of sleep.

"Just… I'm not as ungrateful as you." He turned back, his cheek tinted in a mild red. "And I should apologize for what I did yesterday. Anyway, eat it while it's still hot." Neku handed him a bowl of congee. The faint aroma of rice was already tingling his olfactory receptors.

"Is this… you cooked this for me?" Joshua was fairly surprised.

"I'm not cooking this for you, you stupid ex-composer! It's… it's just that there happened to have the right sets of ingredients in the JP's, and the workers here did not have some food like this… J-just see if this's fine for you…"

Joshua took the first slip of it and immediately realized Neku could cook. As simple as the dish was, with only a bowl of plain rice mixed with a sparse list of ingredients, he could feel the taste stimulating his taste buds without irritating his stomach. The soy sauce was in just the right amount to bring out the favor of the dried scallop without concealing it, and the favored seaweed, together with the chopped spring onion, brought an extra fragrant to the dish.

"Mmm… I'm in paradise. You also cook at home, right?"

"That's… that's right." Unbeknownst to Joshua – or already known by him through his overt stalking – Neku lived alone. He needed to cook for himself.

"Anyway, compliment to the chef – that is, you."

"So to speak, Eri's made some crumpets. You want some?" Reaching the shelf to the left to the stove, Neku took out a dish, unwound the plastic warp put on it, and revealed the delicacy inside.

Neku knew that Eri was a fanatic in desserts – she always loved to share some of her home-made products with her friends. She said she wanted to see others enjoy her food, to see how she could bring joy to them. What everyone who had tasted her products, however, would know that while some of them were undeniably delectable, others were often significantly off, overly experimental, or worse, outright inedible.

Fortunately, the crumpet belonged to the first category. The cake was garnished in a golden yellow. Honey flowed out of the pores dotting the entire surface like lava erupting from a volcano. They were just out of oven, and one could hear the sizzling sound of butter melting on its surface, further encapsulating the cake in a translucent layer.

"Sure." Joshua took the plate from Neku.

"Well, you're quite lucky to try one of her more normal products – her crazy idea of adding mint to it turned out to be not bad. The other time when she added _durian_ to her wagashi-" Neku halted when he heard the sound of porcelain shattering onto the ground.

Joshua had dropped the plate. He looked paralyzed, as if out of shock.

"It-it's nothing. I just hadn't recovered completely. My arms are still aching. Forget it. Your delicacy alone is enough to satiate my appetite, Neku." Feigning indifference, Joshua tried to hide his fear when he saw the pores on the crumpet. He couldn't explain his fear – he had alternating imaginations like a swarm of ants crawling out of their nest, holes trying to suck everything in, or other legion of worms devouring the crumpet. He felt frozen in the wave of horror, and any appetite he had recovered was lost. Trypophobia, he explained to himself.

What puzzled him, however, was that this was only a minor nuisance all the time – he could bring himself to finish the cluster of scales on the drawings Neku gave him on Monday in Church of the Light yesterday, and no such terrifying thoughts occurred to him. Why this trypophobia was suddenly triggered? He reckoned whether this was the effect of degeneracy. He couldn't bring himself to recall when he started to have this phobia, but he knew this was going to be a dark memory, and one that was gradually being induced back to his mind due to degeneracy. The holocaust – nope, he couldn't bring himself to think about that.

He must think about something else, if not to rectify his illogical fear. The drawing - he had finished it yesterday before departing to Nagoya. He took it out of his pocket. The artwork was nothing like what he remembered. The two dragons were already colored and adorned so vividly that they almost seemed to be alive.

The black dragon was mysterious and treacherous. Its eyelids drooped, only exposing part of its amethyst eyes and concealing the sinister light inside. Its long mouth was slightly open as if it was grinning. Along its onyx serpent-like body with dark scales all over it, sharp claws were hidden underneath, and they were waiting to strike the moment the dragon spot its unfortunate prey. On the other hand, the white dragon was pure and fierce. Its wide sapphire eyes were glaring and fearless. Its mouth was wide open, unmasking its acute teeth. Beige claws were stretched outward all along its ivory trunk as though to intimidate its enemies. The two dragons were chasing each other in a circle, but unlike the plain power each showed, they blended together harmoniously to form a complete picture.

"That's…" Neku didn't know what to say when he saw how the Composer not only perfectly brought out his ideas, but also added a touch of charm he had never thought of.

"Brilliant, right? That's why I chose you as my cute little proxy, after all." Joshua smirked.

"W-what? I'm not cute, damn it!"

"Your face is priceless, dear. Anyway, don't you think that arts like this can really express one's inner thoughts?"

"Yes, but I am still trying to reach this stage."

"Indeed." Joshua nodded, but his smile disappeared. Then why you agree with Yamato's social Darwinism? In such a society, things like this will be deemed unnecessary and abandoned like trash. Don't you think that'll prove to be cataclysmic to humankind?"

"That's…" Neku was suddenly speechless. "I have to say that I'm not exactly sure… How the heck do you expect me to know which kind of a crapsack world we should be looking for?!"

Joshua sighed. "Do you remember the Yamanote Lockdown?" It was the lockdown seven years ago when the government sealed the Yamanote circle to prevent the demon outbreak within from spreading out. The Shomonkai distributed devices known as COMPs, which, like Nicaea, could be used to summon demons, to the public for self-defense, but demons tamers, together with the demons, began to wreak havoc within the circle. It turned out, however, that the scenario was merely manipulated by the Shomomkai so that their demon Belberith could win the Throne of Bel, the holder of which would obtain the power to control all demons. Fortunately, a boy named Kazuya was able to defeat Belberith and won the Throne of Bel. Then, together with the song of Haru, a singer whose voice had the power to summon demons, he banished all demons in the human world. That's the story for the RG at least.

For the UG, it was even more convoluted, and also the occasion when he, a reaper then, defeated the Composer and took her role. It wasn't a time he wanted to reminisce, though.

"The … the what!? Do you mean the Yamanote Riot?"

"Ah, the Yamanote Riot, that's correct. Sorry for the mistake." The calamity brought forth by the angels, humans and demons alike was beyond repair. Joshua, together with other Composers within the region, followed the order of the Higher Dimension to use their imaginations to rewrite the whole event into one between left-wing rioters and soldiers instead of between angels and demons, lest the knowledge of the existence of mystic beings disrupt the natural balance of humankind. Nonetheless, they couldn't remove the scar imposed on the souls of victims – the Second Law of Thermodynamics forbade the complete restoration of the original order of souls – and the disastrous nature could not be wiped out.

"So to speak, I don't really know much about this – the government just kept its freaking mouth, and I was locking myself in my room the entire period. It's like a group of left-wing rioters… I remember they're something related to the Shomonkai, aren't they… wait?! Aren't you its heir?"

"You're right. That doesn't really matter, though – I was already a Reaper by then, and the Shomonkai was none of my concern." Joshua's eyes were inexplicably defocused.

Neku knew Joshua's indifference could not be blamed from how he was treated by the cult. "The Shomonka organize rebels against the government and other public facilities, but because they were largely centralized within the Yamanote circle, and all of them were followers of the cult who had received years of training - brainwashing, to be more exact - the government sealed off the entire circle to prevent their impacts from spreading out."

"The cult and the government began to fight against each other, and the whole Yamanote circle was engulfed in war fire. But then I heard rumors about the "Song of Hope," the song a singer called Haru used to pacify both sides in the end. Actually, I must say the whole situation was a bit illogical - like, can a mere singer really have the power to end such a riot? Are the Shomonkais really that strong to have the need to be sealed in the circle? They're just like… some awful crap written by a poor fanfic writer."

Joshua gave a small sigh. He was merely the executor of the fabrication. This whole plot was written by some other Angels, and he could unfortunately exert no influence on it. It's hard to rewrite the story without the entire demon context while still keeping the major elements. That said, he silently agreed with Neku that while the writer may be an angels, his levels of intellectual caliber, language skills, planning of plot, character development, etc., was not much higher than a retarded high school kid.

"Anyway, why're you raising this all a sudden?" Neku asked.

"I've seen the possible outcomes through the Akashic Record. If the ang-" Joshua cut himself off. He couldn't leak out the fact that the whole Riot was just a fabrication. "I mean, soldiers, did not back off, the Japanese government will only impose stricter order on citizens, and no exceptions outside that allowed. On the contrary, if the rioters had overthrown the order, the society would have been in chaos, and anarchy may happen at worst. Don't you find both of them inappropriate? Really, this outcome where both the government and the rioters compromised turned out to be the brightest one. I suppose it's because all humans here can have a chance to exert their imaginations to the world without any external imaginations. Even for the dead, they could either become reapers, be reincarnated, or enter a new cycle of samsara again."

"So you're trying to make a point against Yamato? Then, what kind of a world are you looking for?"

"…A world where people can all pursue their ideals to the fullest, without the interference from other bodies."

"A-Are you crazy? How can people's different ideals not clash with each other? And more importantly, how can you be sure that all ideals are good in nature?" Rolling his eyes, Neku raised his tone.

"Is that why you're doing all these to me?" He hiss-whispered. "All the troubles of saving me… are you just trying to get one more pawns for your own discretions? And trying to persuade me to join your maniac belief? You haven't changed at all…"

"I'd just say I already got too tired with all the social convention stuffs. I'm not sure how Polaris can achieve this, but he must have a specific way to do so. And, yes. I saved you ago partially wanting to have you as my proxy again. Just think whatever you like. I don't care."

"You…!" Neku sprang up and raised his knuckle, preparing to punch the Composer. "Do you think that growing up in a prison-like cult really justifies your crazy belief?!" Neku burst out in a moment of anger, but he immediately stopped upon spotting the sudden shock on Joshua's face. His almost malicious smirk faded, and his lilac eyes lost his concentration on Neku's face. Shomomkai was the catalyst for the whole Yamanote Lockdown, and even though the whole event was rewritten, they were still the main force behind the uprising of the left-wing rioters. "…That's…. I didn't mean to…"

But before he could say further, Joshua fabricated back his normal composure and said "Hehe. Are you genuinely thinking I got shocked over my childhood experience? You're just so naïve. I don't care the least. I repeat, I don't care-"

"Are you really thinking I will believe in your blatant lies, you stupid airhead?" Neku pulled up the collars of Joshua's white shirt. "I know how a disgustingly adamant, hypocritical, arrogant, self-centered, nihilistic and cynical dumbass you are. Therefore, how can I think you can really forget your childhood? You just made me feel guiltier!" He threw Joshua back to the bench.

"Ugh… maybe you're right. I can't really arouse my interest to any part of the society except to you, Neku, after growing up in such an environment. Likewise, I don't really refrain sacrificing the others if it can achieve my goal. But that's different from meritocracy – I still believe in the values of humans' ideals. How about you, then?"

"Ugh…" The room was filled with an awkward silence. "What are you thinking…? I can't understand at all, like always…"

"Then, don't." Joshua smiled. "Suspicion is always something you should have. Blindly trusting someone, even if he is your partner, is dangerous. I don't bring myself to completely trust you either – that's irrational. Isn't this also what you believe in?"

The words hit Neku's eardrums like the squeaking of chalk against a blackboard. How could he be telling blatantly to his partner he didn't trust him, and asked him not to either? The smile of Joshua, full of malice, was the same as the one back in the Game, when he raised his gun towards him, glaring down at his defenseless partner as though he was merely rubbish, and pressing the trigger while smiling at the same time. That's nonsense, something only a maniac like Joshua could do.

Suddenly, the door of the room was slammed open. "Hey, Phones! And Joshua right there!" It was Joe.

"Let me recall… are you the guy standing on the corridors several levels above the ground yesterday?" Joshua rested his chin on his clasped hand.

"Don't be so oblivious to the others! By the way, what are you doing here?" Joe's lips suddenly curled upwards sinisterly. He whispered to them, "You know, the girls are also going for the check, so… you know what to do? Shiki is a gorgeous girl, right?"

"…Y-you are thinking about this, you pervert?" Neku immediately blushed.

"Sorry, but I'll pass." Joshua shook his head.

"Ahh… You two are so much in sync! Phones is a virgin, right?" Joe nodded. "Moreover, since he seems to be in a romantic relationship with you, he can't commit infidelity like that – he just literally confessed his love yesterday!"

"Joe! This isn't something to joke about!" Neku sprang up and vigorously waved his hand.

Instead, Joshua frowned slightly. "Really? Tell me the details."

"Well, when he talked about you yesterday, he looked really, _really_ concerned about your present state and your thoughts. What else can be a viable explanation? Anyway, I am off to the girls, and Phones, you know what to do!" He left the room and closed the door gently.

Now the room was silent again. Joshua was still sitting in the benches, and Neku standing in front of him. Their eyes were gazing at each other. Joshua looked up at Neku, his eyes adamant and his lips slightly curved in his normal way, but Neku's eyes were wavering.

When Neku had lost his count on time, Joshua stood up.

"Joshua? Are you-"

Joshua slapped the wall behind Neku with his right hand and leaned down at the boy. Neku, trapped between the wall and Joshua's body, could only stare at the wicked face of the Composer, who was only a few centimeters away. He could feel the temperature and dampness of his breath. The lips of Joshua were grinning, and Neku could felt they were almost kissing each other.

"What Joe just said… is this true? What's your feeling towards me?" Joshua whispered at Neku's ear.

"I…" Shocked by Joshua's sudden invasive behavior, Neku only stammered.

"Let me ask you once again: Do you like me?" This time, Joshua pressed his ips to Neku's. Neku could feel Joshua's tongue wandering on his lips before departing away. Surprisingly, either out of astonishment or genuine affection, Neku did not push Joshua away, bite back, shout, or otherwise reacted vehemently.

"W-what kind of a question are you asking? I don't love you for the tiniest bit, you stupid, pigheaded dumbass who is always going out of the way to irritate the others at the fullest! All the time you are acting so condescendingly as if all the others are wrong, and you are always toying with the others like we exist only for your pleasure! And how you recklessly tried to save me from Bifrons and Phecda earlier without thinking about your health… do you know how much the others care about you! I… goddamnit!"

"Don't." Joshua's tone lost the frothiness. "Love renders one vulnerable. Depend only on your power. You will be doomed if you decide to rely too much on others. Got it?"

Neku could hold it no longer; with a fierce force, he pushed Joshua away from him. "Just tell me what do you want? You're assaulting me a moment ago, and then you tell me not to go with you?! What are you planning to do?"

"Think in whatever way you want. Let me ask you once again: do you love me?"

Neku's cheeks were almost burning. He wanted to say "I hate you, from the bottom of my heart," but he couldn't bring himself to deny his feelings completely. He then thought if he should say "I care for you," but, again, this was too much to say. He once found Joshua to be like water: whenever you looked at it, you could only see your own reflection but not his image. He was transparent, but at the same time invisible. He wanted to trust him, but the doubt residing inside his heart kept telling him to be wary. However, he, once again, couldn't express his inner thoughts to Joshua. He gave no reply.

"That's way too over. I'll really break up with you, Daichi-" All a sudden, the door opened again. This time, they were two terrified Hibiki and Daichi, both staring right at them. It took less than a second before Neku realized what they were thinking – he was still sandwiched between the wall and Joshua, and they were staring at each other so intently that even he got embarrassed the moment he realized it.

"Daichi? And Hibiki too?" Neku swiftly unwound himself from Joshua and waved his hands. "No! This isn't like-"

"W-what the hell are you two doing? A-are you like… Waah" Daichi put his hands over his face to conceal the all too suggestive scene.

"I see…" Hibiki gave an understanding nod. "Or, would you like me to do the same to you, Daichi, as a repay for what you did to me just now…?"

"Stop! I came here only to give you a message!" Daichi backed off from his sullen friend.

"Ah, I almost forgot it. Fumi wants to see you." Hibiki turned around to the two boys. "She didn't tell us what for, but she sounded quite urgent."

Fumi's first impression on Neku was like an owl – silently observing everything around her, weaving her plan on her surrounding, and waiting for the correct chance to land her deadly strike on her prey targeted since long, long ago. Someone who looked disinterested, but could end up thinking more deeply than Joshua and even Yamato…

Catching the lack of response of his partner, Joshua gave Neku a provocative glance. "Scared?"

"W-what are you thinking that I will get scared over seeing such a trivial woman?! I'll go now!" Shoving away Joshua and heading towards the door, soon only his footsteps remained in the room.

"I may have a walk as well. Take a good time together, you two lovebirds~" Joshua followed.

"L-lovebirds?! What are you talking about? Hey!" Daichi's stir created no more replies.

Seeing the two gone, Hibiki suddenly lost his vigor. "Daichi…I had a dream last night about how I killed everyone… I was the sole survivor, and I… I didn't know what to do… It was just like… seven years ago…"

Daichi tapped on Hibiki's shoulder. "That's just a dream, right? The Hibiki I know won't kill anyone. You must be getting overstressed about what happened yesterday!"

Hibiki collapsed onto Daichi's embrace. "But… do you remember what Alcor and Yamato told me yesterday? They sounded like I was a dangerous villain not better than Yamato. Could the dream… could the dream be real?" His grip on Daichi tightened as though he could disappear any time, and he could feel his warm tears moistening his eyes. "I can feel a lust deep down my heart to kill… I am scared that someday I will really lose my humanity and become a monster… I am scared…"

Daichi embraced back tightly. "If that really happens, then, just like what I did seven years ago, I will stop you with my own hands! I will make sure you are still my Hibiki! That's a deal, right?"

He knew he couldn't possibly bring himself to stop his friend acquainted all the way till childhood, whom he had depended on so much. Could he really insist on what he know is right? He wasn't sure. What's more important now, though, was that Hibiki could smile again.

"Yes… thank you, Daichi…" Hibiki smiled. The smile was, unlike the polite smile he always showed on his surface, a genuine one that flowed from the core of his heart.

"You two perverts! Found you at last!" The door was shoved open, and Hibiki and Daichi could see an infuriated Airi, still in her bathing robes.

"C-can you listen to me?!" Daichi shuddered. "We're just passing through the door of the female changing room when it suddenly opened, and it's Joe who brought us there at the first place-"

"Stop all your crap! Anyone who dares to peek on the girls should die! Now! Oh wait… why did I just talk like a clichéd comedian in a stupid script?" Airi flustered. "Ugh, whatever! Even if you're only playing your scripts, don't think I'll forgive you!"

 **Wednesday, 13:00, Nagoya Port, 0.437288**

Fumi was standing just behind the fences facing the raging ocean. It was raining, and the drizzle hit the ocean like lost children returning to their homes. Her silk cheongsam swayed along with the beat of the wind, but her body was erect, gazing through the grave scenery all the way till the unfathomable horizon.

Suddenly, she turned towards the bushes behind, her sight sharp as a hawk.

"Ah, so you two are here, too."

With the buzzing sound of the bushes, there emerged two persons, a man and a woman.

"You know we have been here the whole time, huh?" The man glanced down at Fumi with his amber eyes, twinkling in a mischievous light. His outlook was similarly enigmatic: his bright orange hair fraying out behind his head, his black vest with a skeletal drawing like in an X-ray picture, and his lollipop held between his index finger and middle finger on his right hand.

"Are we not allowed to listen to your stories, now that we are on the same ship?!" The woman stared, with her mauve eyes, right into Fumi's ones, standing upright while her pink, shoulder-length hair, together with her glaucous leather jacket, were vibrating in the midst of the wind,

"I suppose you two have already received his orders, Uzuki Yashiro and Koki Kariya?" Fumi concealed her smirk under her hand.

"Gaah…! Why should I even listen to your order, you stupid-" Uzuki ranted, her knuckles clasped against the woman standing in front of them.

"Hang on. I know this is crapsack, but there're no other options." Koki turned to his partner, silencing her mumbing with his sight.

"Ugh, fine… Promise me a bowl of ramen after this week."

"Speaking of ramen, do you two want to try my recent innovation, the Misovitan D broth? Its dense energy content, combined with the rich amount of over 1000 milligrams of miso, is supposed to refresh your body for the upcoming jobs. Just in case you don't know already, miso is an excellent source of dietary fibers, vitamin K, copper, and manganese –"

"What kind of exotic crap is this?!" Uzuki lost herself again. "And what do you mean by 'supposed to?' Are you treating us as your lab rats? That's… argh!"

"Not my favor, sorry." Koki gave a dismissive gesture. "Its name is enough to give me a dangerous feeling."

"Too bad. I'm looking for the right subject to complete the recipe, and you two make the perfect candidates with your reaper-level physique-"

"You said it! You just admit we are your guinea pigs, you monster! If it isn't out of the situation right now…!"

"I don't see the problem. It's pretty much a waste of efforts to feign a friendly relationship just to cover the underlying intent of mutual exploitation. My intent is benign, anyway."

Uzuki was about to shout again, but Koki stopped her. "I am curious whether you have any friends. If you are so unwilling to open up yourself like that, then you're going to miss the most important bits of life."

"Hmm… that's an interesting question. Maybe none, or maybe there's one." Fumi reflected on Makoto, the only person who would talk to her outside job duties in the whole JP's.

"Or… maybe there's another one in the past. That doesn't matter much anyway."

She could hear a rapid footstep. Someone was approaching.

"Oh, look. Seems I've got some visitors. Would you two like to give us some time alone?"

"Like I want to talk to you any longer. Koki, let's leave." The two reapers disappeared like shadows being dispelled in light.

Fumi then turned towards the visitor, now only steps behind. "I guess you have many, many questions, Neku Sakuraba."


	15. Wednesday's Necrosis II

**Wednesday's Necrosis II**

"Many questions, huh? That's an awful understatement" Neku did not hide his distrust towards the female scientist in front of him. She knew the phenomenon of degeneracy, which he knew only from the words of Hanekoma, and she knew it was Hanekoma who told him about this. And not to mention the pins of the Septentriones they had defeated in the past three days – Septentriones were not noises, and they should not be able to generate pins when defeated. "Now, tell me why you knew all these."

"Don't be so hasty. I'll answer your queries one by one." She put an object she held on her hand back to her pocket. It was a circular, metallic circle with a black hole inscribed, having dark indigo spiral arms falling into the center in pitch black like how water swirls down the drain. That's another one of the pins he used back in the game.

"What's the thing you're holding? A … pin?" he asked.

"Callous indigo. It works by controlling gravity. So to speak, do you know why gravity is so weak? Why gravity is the weakest among the three fundamental interactions?

"You mean…" Neku hesitated. He had read about the three fundamental interactions before in a college textbook, and this question had struck his mind, too. He remembered that the gravitational interaction was more than 30 orders of magnitudes weaker than electroweak interaction at the scale of quarks – that's much greater than the difference in mass between an apple and the Earth1. He wasn't really interested in physics and science in general – it was too emotionless, too weird, and too intangible - but he needed something to think, to occupy his brain, to prevent his overwhelming imagination from going out of control. Therefore, he often studied supplementary readings outside the school syllabus as his hobby. It didn't matter that his classmates, or even his friends, often call him nicknames ranging from "godly genius" to "nerdy freak," for he didn't care much about others anyway. "You mean the strong interaction, the electroweak interaction force, and the gravitational interaction? Why gravity is so weak… it's true, but… I don't know."

"Because gravity transcends through space, time, and even parallel universes. I didn't expect a normal high school kid to know about the fundamental interaction, but since you have been chosen as Joshua's proxy for your imagination…" Fumi smiled. "I may as well tell you about my theory."

"The world is composed of multiple parallel world lines. Every time a wave function, a function describing the states of particle, is observed, it collapses, causing the universe to branch into multiple parallel ones depending on what wave function is observed. Even without considering the dimension of time, the universe can actually be said to be four-dimensional, with three spatial dimensions and one describing the 'separation' between parallel universes. What's interesting is that gravity is capable to propagate between different parallel universes, while other interactions can't. Gravity is propagated by gravitons, the properties of which cannot be determined under the conventional Standard Model in order to recreate the effects of Einstein's General Relativity before. It cannot be renormalized, so the theory of quantum gravity cannot be derived. However, if one includes the notion of parallel universes and the model that gravitons are four-dimensional particles able to travel through the dimension of parallel universes, then a viable theory can be proved. In fact, through the measurement of gravitational waves through my pin, I was able to prove my theory on the parallel-universe perturbation of gravitational waves. The direct result is that much of gravity is dissipated into other universes. So to speak, I guess you should know about dark matter?"

"Dark matter? The unobservable mass that creates gravity in galaxies?" Neku tried to recall his memory.

"They're massive galaxies in other parallel universes, and their gravitational forces extend to our universe. Now you know why we can't observe dark matter, don't you? They aren't here in the first place."

"But… does that mean we can also use gravity to communicate between parallel universes?"

"Wow…" Fumi gave a pleasant clap of surprise. "I really didn't expect you to troubleshoot my theory that quickly, Sakura. Yes, communications between parallel universes through gravity are theoretically possible, but the strength of gravitational interaction decays very rapidly, so it's realistic only with a very strong emitter, a very sensitive receiver, and both of which situated in very close timelines. It takes something as powerful as my pin to do this. And moreover, do you really think we can coordinate between different persons in parallel universes. The odds are comparable to an asteroid as large as Ceres colliding with the Earth in the next 1000 years. Still, the strength of gravity seemed to have a drastic increase like… seven years ago. The gravitational constant G has, however unnoticeable in our everyday lives, a detectable increase. The explanation is still unclear, but it's like… the permeability between parallel universes are suddenly increased, as if someone has tightened up the threads of parallel universes."

"Is that so… wait, did you just call me by Sakura? That name's…" Neku had a vague memory that someone also used to call him by Sakura a long time ago, but he couldn't remember anything more.

"Is there a problem? Calling people by nicknames can induce a sense of intimacy and therefore bring people closer. If you like, you can also call me by 'Kanny' or something like that. I don't mind."

"Ugh, whatever… but where did you get this pin? Did you get this from other reincarnated players, or…"

"I adapted it based on the real pin I have used in Reaper's Game."

"You _were_ a player of the game?!" Neku did not expect this. If what she said was true, then she must have won a game and been revived subsequently. But then, it seemed reasonable to say that Joshua – the Composer of Shibuya – knew her. Then, was he pretending not to have known her beforehand? What could he be hiding? He reckoned that she did not play the game in Shibuya, but the shadow of doubt he cast upon Joshua could not be lightened.

"Yes. A long time ago when I was just a toddler, and a time you most likely did not remember anymore. This pin I am holding is a memoir of the pin I used during that."

"How can I be sure you aren't lying? Why should I trust you at all?"

"Do as you like." Fumi lost her unchanging smirk fixated on her face. "But one thing I can tell you is that I never lie. I hate lying."

"Why?"

"That's not something you need to know. If you don't need to know something, then I won't tell you. However, everything I am telling you right now is true. Just take this as my quirk." Her look was strangely nostalgic.

Neku realized he was facing an impasse concerning this issue, so he decided to switch to another topic. "Why do you know about degeneracy?"

"Degeneracy… that's a complex phenomenon. You want to hear my theory?"

"Just continue."

"Okay. I need to explain my theory of quantum vibration vibrations first. The fuzziness of thoughts resembles that of quantum mechanics - as governed by the uncertainty principle, the states of particles cannot be completely determined. It is therefore reasonable to assume that thoughts are also created under quantum phenomena. Quantum effects can manifest themselves on the electrons involved, giving way to the overall quantum-ness of thoughts. A mechanism for this is by influencing the functioning of receptors on the dendrite end of neurons, causing neurotransmitters to bind to them in a nuanced manner, thereby influencing the transmission of nerve impulses and ultimately thoughts. Another mechanism is by the quantum entanglement of the electrons both within and between neurons, thereby aggregately driving our thoughts. The quantum effect can be explained by assuming that parallel worlds exist. Then, each wave function of electrons is representing different possible worlds. When we think, we are causing the wave functions to collapse into observable effects."

Fumi raised her hand out into the rain, her hand folded in the shape of a bowl, and her eyes fixated on the clear droplets falling onto my own hand. "Just like the droplets, my hand is like my brain, collecting the raindrops of thoughts passing through it. Since my position is random, the raindrops I receive are also governed by probability. And when my hand receives the water, the receptors of touch integrate the signal into meaningful sensations; in analogy, the electrons in neurons and glial cells in my brain manifest their own wave functions and integrate together through the cells, causing consciousness."

"Then… who's the observer?" An observer is needed to cause the wave functions to collapse. There was the famous Schrödinger's cat thought experiment – a cat was put in a sealed chamber, in which a Muller-Geiger Counter could detect the radioactivity of an atom and release a gas that could kill the cat if the atom decayed. The cat could be viewed as a superposition of the state of "alive" and "dead." To external observers, the chamber was essentially a black box that could not be resolved until observation was made. The question on the nature of observation still remained, though. Particles observe the states of other particles through interacting with them, since the interaction was dependent on the properties of the particles. So to speak, the observation on the cat could be made by the photons, the light particles, reflected from the cat and entering our retina. Afterwards, our brain could interpret the information as either an alive or a dead cat. However, who could be observing our brain, then? Was it ourselves, or was it still some other observers?

One thing Neku could be sure, however, was that he was also trapped in a sealed chamber, together with a radioactive, self-absorbed lecturer whose speeches were no less hypnotizing than a knockout gas. Certainly, he would soon be at the state of both alive and dead very soon.

"The observation is caused previous observations like in a cascade. When one particle is observed, its physical properties are manifested, and it can affect other particles, thereby causing their wave functions to collapse. This, in turn, makes the particles observe even more particles, eventually causing a cascade. My body grows using the water I drink, which ultimately comes from the rain water. Therefore, it can be said that it is the water in my hand that is collecting the water itself. In this way, everything in the universe can be traced back to beginning, where particles have begun to be observed."

"And concerning the beginning of the universe, my recent experimental findings suggest that the widely-believed big bang theory is not viable; instead, the ekpyrotic universe theory, stating how a universe is created when two three-dimensional branes in a four-dimensional space collide with each other in the 'Big Collision', is more consistent with my findings. The vibration is the cause of the observation cascade, forming consciousness ultimately. Not only does the vibration create matter, but it also distorts the 'dimension' between parallel universes, which in turn allows the information of electrons to diffuse between parallel universes in the form of wave functions my means not unlike quantum tunneling. Just like how particles have a non-zero probability to pass through a potential barrier with a higher potential energy than all its energy, information of electrons can also diffuse to other parallel worlds. As a result, when we are thinking, we can be extracting information from other universes. The wind blows some raindrops closer together and others further apart, creating collisions and merging between raindrops; the inter-dimensional vibration also causes electrons in different dimensions And often times, when we are experiencing déjà vu, we are having a sense of what will happen because we obtain the information from other universes, in which this event may have already happened."

"Our consciousness form when the electrons in our brain become entangled together, like how the water molecules in a raindrop are bound together. Only we humans and other animals have consciousness because only living cells can conduct the chemical reactions to energize the electrons, and only neurons and glial cells can coordinate the electrons to form consciousness. Once we die and our cells cannot conduct respiration to provide energy for the chemicals, exciting the electrons in the process, they can no longer aggregate, like how water molecules become scattered once they hit the ground. But sunlight can evaporate the water, causing water vapor to rise and condense into clouds, ready to fall as raindrops again; the electrons can also find themselves to be in a new brain again. However, just like how no raindrops with exactly the same composition of water molecules can be formed, the electrons will also be shuffled by the time another consciousness is formed, so no consciousness can be identical to each other. We're just a product of sheer probability, formed as this set of electrons manages to entangle together. A coincidence, just like how this raindrop falls onto my hand."

Fumi finally halted. "...Still on track?"

"…It's okay. Continue." Neku gave a weak reply. While he could not understand all the terminology not unlike some techno-babbles in poorly conceived fictions, he knew that Fumi had already bottom-lined it, and he could understand the most basic aspects of the theory – his thoughts come from collapses of wave functions of electrons from parallel universes, which was facilitated by inter-dimensional vibration.

…That was, before his brain began to collapse also. He could barely continue on the horrendously terminology-laden exposition, despite claiming otherwise.

"Great. I expected you to have questions, but you're Sakura, after all. Now, move on to the matter of imagination. Just like the theory of quantum vibration I said earlier, our thoughts originate from wave functions representing parallel universes. The electrons of each person can be represented by a unique linear combination of eigen-functions. The span of the set of eigen-functions is directly correlated to the level of imagination of someone – the greater the span, the wider range of thoughts he can receive from parallel universes."

"Composers, Septentriones, other angels and demons necessarily have the greatest span since they are meant to exist simultaneously in multiple universes. They don't have 'split thoughts' like us, but instead, all angels together form a hive mind by letting the wave functions representing each of them interfere with each other. All such unearthly beings can exist in this form here because of a mechanism called 'dimensional splitting,' which is about splicing their four-dimensional existence in multiple universes into an infinite set of three-dimensional ones in each parallel universe. The split form is the stable one with lower energy, while the integrated one requires continuous energy input to prevent it from spontaneously decaying into the split state. Through this, every angel can also obtain his own consciousness. That's not unlike you have a square, and then you cut it into an infinite number of lines. The square is like an angel in original form spanning the dimension of parallel universes, and each line is like a dimensionally split angel in every parallel universe. For a dimensionally split angel, it's like the lines interfering with each other to create a thought for the square, while for the hive mind of angels, it's the squares interfering with each other to create a thought for the cube of the collective angels."

"The underground, the noise ground, and the real ground are separated by a different size of dimensional split, with the size of parallel universe occupied by each slice in decreasing order. It's like when you have different sizes of infinitesimal differentials – all of them are infinitely small, but you can still compare their sizes. I know it's a complicated mathematical concept that's hard to grasp without a prior knowledge in calculus, but… that said, you should have learnt calculus in high school already2? When angels transverse between parallel universes, they need to perform 'dimensional integration' first by rejoining the split states into a whole and entering the angelic plane, before dimensionally splitting again and observing at a different parallel universe. This is loosely called as 'turning up the vibe' by angels, and, as I admit, it is not such an accurate depiction."

"The energy from the inter-dimensional vibration can be extracted through thoughts into real, tangible psyches. For angels, demons and other similar beings in their dimensionally integrated forms, they can directly harness the energy. However, for angels in dimensionally split forms and humans, they need to use pins to actualize the energy. Pins harbor the imagination of various concepts when they are created, and if the imagination of someone matches that of the pin, the vibration of thought can then resonate within the pin, like how sound waves can form a stationary wave on a string. The pin can then act as a storage device of the energy from the inter-dimensional vibration, and then unleash the energy under the thoughts of the person. When the pins are being rebooted, we are charging up the pins with our thoughts. Of course, the higher the level of imagination someone is, the greater range of thoughts he can realize, and the more types of pin he can use. Unfortunately, the efficiencies of normal pins are too low to generate any psyches powerful enough to create any substantial damages to something like angels. If there's some way to increase its efficiency, then pins can be used as a weapon. I don't have any idea how I can do this myself right now, though"

"Wait…what if the energy from the inter-dimensional vibration is depleted?"

"Well, I safely assume that it won't happen for any realistic time to come. The mass of the observable universe is 1053 kg, and that already doesn't include dark matter and dark energy. And that's only an extremely small portion of the energy released from the 'Big Collision.' But if the time should really come in any unfathomable future… it will be heat death, in the real sense. No more thoughts, no more life, no more activities. I recommend you not to worry about this when you have all the Septentriones and degeneracy to worry about – that's it. I still need to talk about degeneracy."

"Degeneracy is a phenomenon about the severe influx of negative thoughts from alternative universes into our minds. If you can still recall what I said earlier, thoughts from other universes can be accessed. Negative thoughts can be accessed at quicker rates than positive thoughts since they have higher levels of energy. The higher level of energy thought is, the easier it is to diffuse across parallel universes. That's like you can smell the aroma of hot food more quickly than cold food - as the average kinetic energy of aromatic molecules is directly proportional to the temperature, hotter molecules can move at a higher speed. The net result is that negative thoughts pass between universes more quickly. Of course, one with higher imagination is naturally more susceptible to degeneracy. While it is a natural phenomenon – the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the entropy, a measure of chaos, can only be increasing throughout time, and the increasing mental disorder is expected, an unknown factor seems to be drastically accelerating it."

"Here's another consequence: the imagination of someone who's supposed to die in other parallel universes but don't will drop significantly similar to an Alzheimer's Disease patient. Let me call this 'intelligence singularity' for now. The condition of this is equivalent to someone who is existent in this parallel universe but absent in virtually every other ones. As thoughts come from living alternative selves from parallel universes, the level of imagination will be severely hindered if there are very few alternative selves. Someone encountering thought singularity will be rendered incapable of logical reasoning, which can either lead to a comatose or an insane state. Angels, however, who exist in all parallel universes simultaneously, are naturally immune to this, since they can't be singular."

"But what make intelligence singularity especially dangerous is demons. Demons are controlled under Nicaea without dimensional splitting. They are instead manifested as a projection on an infinitesimal world line. The difference is like… you understand the difference between a projection of a cube on a plane and a slice of a cube, right? What Nicaea does is to cut off the link between the demon and other four-dimensional entities to prevent the formation of a collective thought, transplant your thoughts onto the demon, and then maintain its four-dimensional shape through the power of your thought. However, if the power is too weak, then dimensional splitting will occur spontaneously, and the demon will obtain its own thoughts. This is exactly what happened to your Shiva, and what will happen to anyone who happens to be inflicted."

"So… why're you telling me all these?"

"There are two reasons, Sakura: firstly, stay away from any other similarly imaginative persons. This includes Hibiki Kuze, Joshua, the Chief, me, and others you can possibly conceive. Have you heard of Folie à deux?"

"Nope."

"It's also called shared psychosis, a psychiatric syndrome in which symptoms of a delusional belief and hallucinations are transmitted from one individual to another. While the cause of this syndrome is traditionally contributed to psychosocial factors, it has a better explanation from the theory of quantum vibration. The thoughts of someone can drive the thoughts of others like a forced oscillation – one's thoughts distort the alignment of parallel universes, and this can induce similar thoughts on another person. This situation is exacerbated by degeneracy. So, if someone experiences disorders like Capgras' Delusions, Cotard's Delusions, specific phobias, schizophrenia, or anything that you can name, you may be induced to have them too. Therefore, to keep your level of sanity high, you should avoid getting too close to others who may be having such disorder-"

"I-I'm not as cold as you! So you're telling me not to help others in distress?" Neku finally burst out.

"Yes." Fumi's tone was monotonic. "That's for practical concern. No alternatives, unfortunately. And here's the second thing: don't save any person who are going to die."

"What?! That's… insane!" Neku clenched his fist.

"Haven't I just told you about intelligence singularity? Any people who're going to die later on can't escape this. Joshua, Hibiki and you are unaffected only due to being continually rescued in other universes. Alcor enlisted help from you and Joshua only because you two can consistently survive till the end of the ordeal in other world lines. Want me to make the list of the upcoming victims of intelligence singularity? I have made predictions from the Akashic Records: Ronaldo Kurik, Otome Yanagiya, Yuzuru Akie and Eri Komaki today; Shiki Mizaki tomorrow; Daisukenojo Bito and Raimu Bito on Friday, and-"

"No… Shiki and the others promised me to fight with each other yesterday! I can't…"

"I told you I don't lie. I'm only saying this because it's the best thing you can you right now. I want to help you-"

"By telling me to kill others?! You're no different from Yamato and Joshua!"

"There's no point in moral arguments. I don't feel anything about it – I can't. If you don't want to listen to me, you may leave anytime. You'll understand my point sooner or later."

"Ugh…" They faced a stalemate. Must he sit back and watch his friends die one by one? Why couldn't he save them, like how he was saved multiple times before?

"The fourth Septentrione will be here soon. I suggest you go back to the branch and prepare for the fight – oh, and to make up your mind whether to save your friends or not. I'm giving you the luxury of choice here. I urge you not to, but ultimately, the choice is yours."

 **Wednesday, 17:30, Osaka Nanko Fishing Park, 0.441081**

"So that's Megrez? Yo man, let's just get this over!" Beat shouted.

Neku, Joshua, Shiki, Eri, Beat and Rhyme were standing near the sea. It was a gloomy, misty day. The endless cumuli concealed the only ray of hope up the sky. The frigid onshore winds were sending forth a sober chill of fear. The savage sea waves were corroding the shore like a giant monster devouring the land. The mist veiled their visions to the future, and they could barely figure out a giant silhouette of a ball.

The fourth Septentrione was already looming, ready to crush their nascent hopes like a steamroller crushing any obstacles on its way

"Don't let your guard down, Beat." Rhyme gazed at the horizon. "It looks even stronger than the one yesterday."

"I feel a great pressure approaching…" Shiki clasped her hands. "But with Fenrir, Remiel and Peri, we can do this. And Hibiki's side also has Hinako, too – it's so good that she's still alive…"

"That's the spirit, Shiki!" Eri patted the girl gently. "Speaking of Hinako, I guess no one receives her death clip, so it's more like expected that she's still alive, right? Now, in the name of Peri, I'll cast love and justice upon this very land and annihilate your blighted existence, Megrez!" Eri gave an awkward smile. "…Like it? I spent a lot of time thinking about this thing!"

Meanwhile, Neku's gaze was wandering aimlessly on the sea. " _Sacrifice… is it necessary? Does any one of us really need to die if we want to let the future flow in the way you want?_ " He was still caught in the previous discussion with Fumi.

"Still confused over what Fumi said?" Joshua suddenly whispered in Neku's ear.

"Waah!" Neku almost collapsed out of the surprise, but Joshua held him on his arms. "Stop playing with me all the time! And _don't_ hold me like I'm your girl-" He immediately halted and cringed when he realized he was going to say the word "girlfriend."

"You mean my girlfriend? Oh, don't be so reserved! After all, didn't you already confessed to me this morning" Joshua whispered to Neku's ear.

"I didn't!" Neku was about to scream, but he didn't after a quick glance of all his friends around him. "But… are you really fine with sacrificing the others? Even with the whole freaking Intelligence Singularity thing?" Joshua had already learnt what Fumi told him today yesterday.

"No. I won't mind sacrificing my partner midway if it's essential, even if it's you. Our lives are already full of sacrifices – we must outrank the others if we want to achieve our goals. That's how our world works, and there's no alternative. So, don't hesitate to kill me if I stand in your way." Joshua sneaked behind Neku and whispered on his ear. "Still, I didn't expect you to understand all of them so quickly. That's certainly worth my accolade."

"You don't need to be that creepily annoying when you're attempting to give a compliment!" Neku shoved Joshua away. "Anyway, you think what she said makes sense?"

"Or you think she lies? Nope, she doesn't lie, especially to you…" Joshua hesitated. "We're cooperating with each other to fend Japan against the Septentriones, so what benefits can she get from lying?"

"You're right, but… she just seems to be one of those who have chronic backstabbing disorder…"

"Maybe." Joshua smirked. "But still, don't you think being backstabbed by a gravity-warping blade is a nice experience?"

"…what."

"Gravity doesn't need to be used as communication agents or weapons. I've discussed with Fumi yesterday, and we came up with some more creative uses, like… like to confine employees onto their chairs so that they could not leave their working space and slack off, or as blenders to mix food ingredients at molecular levels-"

"Or mixing Fumi and you together so that the combined humanoid could keep its mouth shut. If I were you, I wouldn't spend so much time thinking how to misapply a phlebotinum. This will ruin my life."

"Don't you think this is an excellent mental exercise? Come on, don't be so mentally rigid and have some fun. How about another question: what can you do with pins?"

"…like, making fire for cooking or water to quench your thirst? Or, at a larger scale, generating electricity, curing patients and soldiers, providing water supply in arid areas, detect gravitational waves for research on the early universe, and acting as teleporters for commutation and ruining the transport system? Oh wait…" All a sudden, Neku realized he was the very one misapplying the phlebotinum. In retrospect, he didn't give much thought to the pins he obtained in the game other than as a memoir. The idea was blurred in his mind, as though it was suppressed by someone else.

"Great. Now you see that phenomenon. It's pretty much enforced by the Higher Dimensions - the use of pins is forbidden to the public to prevent the present society order from being completely revolutionized. This, I must reckon, is quite a pity."

"…Filler time is over!"

The grating voice of a woman, like the noise of scrapping blackboard, quickly drew the attention of the group. "If Alcor is trying to rewrite the fate, then I am going to revert it back to the way it should be. So… die you all!"

"Bifrons…!"

 **Wednesday, 17:30, Nagoya Port, 0.404819**

"That's why I came with the order to eliminate you, Hibiki Kuze. Now, prepare to redeem for your sins!" An onyx viper bearing the face of a human levitating over the ground was glaring down with his arms crossed at the group of summoners like a god looking down on sinners. All summoners there, Hibiki Daichi, Io, Hinako, Jungo, Airi, Ronaldo, Otome, and Joe, are unanimously in shock when they saw this unexpected hostility.

"Hibiki! What are you doing again?" Hinako stretched her hand out to grab Hibiki's arm.

"Botis…! I will now retaliate for Keita! Don't hold me, Hinako! Don't you also want to avenge for him?" The boy's only remaining self-control was gone upon the sight of his nemesis. He shook of her hand and immediately rushed towards the viper, leaving all others behind.

And this would be the biggest mistake he would make in this week.

 **Wednesday, 17:45, Tokyo Tower, 0.382232**

"Baal, finish it."

Painted in scarlet and white, Tokyo Tower had stood like the horn of a dormant dragon, resting above the hustling crowds and consuming the vibrancy of the city. When night loomed, under its orange illumination, it would have looked even more like a horn glowing out of heat, emanating the waves of power absorbed during the day not much different from the sun, as though charging the dragon to revitalize someday later.

And now, the dragon had awakened in a new color of cobalt. Centered at the tower, the ground shone in a circle encompassing over a hundred meters wide, on the rim of which celeste auras gleamed out, kindling the entire city in sapphire, and concentrated into the center, ascending up the cobalt tower, and finally erupting on its antenna in an azure so bright that even a short glance could blind a careless observer.

Except that it wasn't the dragon that was awakened; it was Yamato, levitating just in front of the antenna and channeling the aura through its body like blood pulsating through his arteries. His arms stretched wide open, embracing the power of the dragon, and his lilac eyes were menacing condescendingly on Megrez, paralyzed amidst the celeste the just meters in front of him, like how a tyrant would look at his pawn.

"Neku? Hibiki? Can you hear me? Keep attacking, and don't give up. Expose its core, and I'll make things match your timing. That is… if things run smooth for you…" Yamato raised his phone up to his ear level and talked briefly before lowering it down again.

"Now you're executing your plan… Are you really fine with this?" Alcor said, suddenly materializing near Yamato.

Yamato gave a small chuckle. "You are asking me this? Someone who's comfortable with experimenting on the entire humanity and torturing them again and again is asking me this? Don't make me laugh."

"Is that so…?" Alcor was lost in thoughts. "I can't deny this. But I need to know more. I need to know more about humanity. Will this… will this matter?"

"You're really good at shedding crocodile tears. Aren't you having fun in it? Let's just face it – everyone has their own desires. You have your own, and I have mine. It's just that simple."

"I see… Desire is an integral part of humans… Your desire in pursuing your own ideals, and my desire in understanding humans… they are both what make us humans…"

"That's right. There's no need to hide it – all people are driven by such primitive instincts. I won't pretend that I am a saint; everyone is disgusting, and I'm no different from them: adamantly believing in meritocracy and trying to force the world into it, even though the world's been pressed into an impasse by me."

"Yamato…?" Alcor seemed to be alarmed. "You doubt your own belief which you hold since childhood? That's unlike you… It seems even you cannot elude from degeneracy…"

"Huh. I guess you're right. My mind's dead since a long time ago when I decided to walk down this path of no return. I'm already beyond salvation…" Yamato hesitated. "Or, maybe, it's not only my mind that's dead."

Just then, his phone rang. It was Makoto giving out the orders.

"Simultaneous core exposure is confirmed!"

"Attack in unison!"

The three cores of Megrez were now simultaneously exposed. It was the only chance for all of them to deliver the final strike on Megrez at the same time.

"Cerberus." Yamato delivered his order.

1For your reference, the mass of an apple is about 0.1kg, while that of the Earth is 5.97x1024 kg. The difference is about 25 orders of magnitude.

2Exactly what it says on the tin - calculus is compulsory for _all_ science major Japanese high school students. No choices like AP Calculus (if you are American), Further Mathematics (if you are British or studying IB), Module 1/2 (if you are from Hong Kong), or even Electives (if you are from mainland China, which is already notorious for its insanely hard syllabus). For god's sake…


	16. Wednesday's Necrosis III

**Wednesday's Necrosis III**

 **Wednesday, 17:30, Nagoya Port, 0.310799**

"Hibiki!" Daichi wanted to chase him, but by the time he became aware what's going on, Hibiki was already nowhere to be found. "Damn it…! Where's Hibiki…" He stomped on the ground out of frustration.

"Shijima, stop." Ronaldo said afar, summoning his Hagen to initiate the assault on Megrez at the same time. "Hibiki isn't responding to my call, so he must be in great emotional chaos. We should just leave him alone for a while. Meanwhile, we must focus on Megrez first."

"But… this isn't going to be right! That Botis… he'll just kill Hibiki like what happened to Keita! And if Hibiki's in such a state, then… Gaah!" Daichi sprinted away in the direction Hibiki went. "Sorry, but I have to go after Hibiki!"

"Shijima!" Io prepared to run. "I…I'll go with you too! Hibiki can't take this alone, right? I'll also help him!"

"Just stay here." Daichi stopped and looked back. "I'm the weakest here, so even I am gone, I won't make any difference on Megrez; but you have Kikuri-hime, so just stay here and fight. Moreover, if Hibiki's going to listen to anyone, he will listen to me. He's my best friend, after all!" With a resolute smile like a martyr, Daichi waved his hand and went away.

One would smile like this when one already knew the despair looming ahead, and yet embraced it without a single doubt.

 **Wednesday, 17:40, Osaka Izuo Intersection, 0.308281**

"Shiki, how's your side going?" Neku shouted on his phone, sprinting along the vacant highway with Joshua. Throughout the highway, Neku could recognize the vehicles and the remnants of building among the debris packing all along, and the fierce sound of the onshore wind beating on the highway was loud enough to almost cover the voice of the conversation.

Through the gap in the fence and the fog looming behind, Neku could see Megrez, a gigantic ball spanning over fifty meters wide. Unlike the perfectionistic Dubhe, the calculative Merak and the glamorous Phecda, it carried yet another aura of antiquity, being quintessentially a cracked, spiky, metallic ball. It looked so ancient, and it could not perform any other attacks besides the rudimentary crushing and spike-bombarding; However, simply its overwhelming shape already suggested that even the most primitive attacks were deadly. It was proceeding, slowly, stumblingly, but above all, savagely.

"No good. We're on our way, but Bifrons… waah!" Shiki's words were interrupted midway, the squeaking sound of friction between the wheel and the ground dominating the phone. The truck on which the other four were riding just had a sharp turn.

"Neku? Bifrons's chasing us. We all trying to divert his attention on you, so man, focus yourself!" Beat shouted through the phone, still turning the driving wheel like crazy.

"We'll be fine!" Eri also followed. "Peri!" Seeing the coming projectile from Megrez, Peri immediately flapped her wings while rotating her body as if dancing, and a tornado of thunder struck every bud midair, giving out explosions like firework, and swirling alongside with the tornado, cloaking themselves against Bifrons.

"Its bullets seem to be endless…" Rhyme murmured. "We must finish it now!"

"Neku, it's coming. Be careful." Joshua said, holding Neku's hand and gazing at him with a fondness not unlike a mother looking at her dear children.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Neku didn't turn back.

"Please, have some compassion. I was just trying to give you a kind reminder, but you..." Joshua sighed.

"Yeah, so kind I forgot to-" Neku's mumbling was interrupted by the sweet voice coming out of his phone. "A new 'dead face' clip has been uploaded!"

"What? Again…" Feeling a chill down his spine, he flipped open his phone before almost collapsing out of shock.

"Neku? What happened?" Joshua gripped Neku's arms tightly to prevent him from falling.

"See… see them yourselves… I… can't go on…" Neku's voice trembled from his throat. Joshua saw his phone, and within a second, he understood what caused Neku to collapse.

Eight death clips, those were what he saw.

The first two belonged to Hibiki and Daichi. It was a stagnant pond clouded with the color of crimson and mud like water from a sewer, and the disfigured silhouette belonging to two people could be vaguely outlined. Albeit barred by the sediment, one could recognize structures broken, twisted, or even blatantly disconnected from the rest of the body. Floating on the surface of the broth were tiny pieces of flesh, blood coagulates and intestines filled with feces… his gastric acid surged up from the twitching stomach, corroding his chest within, up to his pharynx and almost spilt out of his mouth. The stench broke out of the LCD screen and diffused into his nasal cavity, stimulating his olfactory sensory cells to such an extent that he could no longer think straight.

Months ago, encased within the Yamanote circle, it was also like this: amidst the savage battle between angels and demons, amidst the merciless 'justice' of the government, amidst the frenzy of desperate citizen, the dead were heaped up along the streets, while the few living had already lost their trust on everything. And he, trapped in the UG, could only sit back and watch his citizens die one after the other. But the citizens were never him to begin with – he was alone all along, confined in the shrine of Shomonkai, then in the room of reckoning, and then… He didn't care, he told himself, whether he was alone or not, for he alone sufficed. Even to Neku, to whom he confessed his feelings earlier – and the feeling was genuine, vibrating from the warmth of Neku's shoulders to his body right now – he would gladly sacrifice him if he was blocking his way…

"Josh? Josh! What are you doing?!" this time, it was Neku who pulled Joshua from collapsing.

"Ah, nothing… Forget about it." he sighed, wiping out the cold sweat on his forehead, Feeling the wind to be strengthening, he opened the next clip of Hinako. Lying supine near the muddy pond in the last clip, her bloody arms were stretched out, and numerous lacerations were exposed on her almost naked body. However, the only fatal one was the stab on her chest, and there were no signs of horrendous torture at all. They must be killed by the same murderer, a bloody, unscrupulous, maniac torturer… "Damn it." he whispered to himself, "I can't let my mind loose at such a moment…"

The next three were from Ronaldo, Otome and Joe. Engulfed in a bright white light not unlike rays from the heaven, the three were vaporized within a second among an explosion. Joshua almost gave a sigh of relief when he saw that their deaths were much more peaceful than the last three, but… his mind was stirred into an even worse chaos when he realized how he was feeling happy over their deaths. The second last clip belonging to Eri, also depicted her turning into nothing in a similar explosion.

Finally, there came the last clip, but this one yet managed to surprise Joshua the most. Unlike the previous ones with the names of his dying friends, this one did not have any. Unlike the descriptively grim preceders hugely composed of crimson, this was silently dreadful. In fact, it wasn't a death clip at all, with only 5 characters printed in white standing out of the empty background of this 1-second long clip.

SHIVA

This was definitely not a death clip. Who could be sending this message? Alcor, the very creater of Nicaea? That must be it, the unpredictable, treacherous alien who always seemed to have planned everything. But why? What could he be planning this time by mentioning the fiery, almighty god who almost killed them two days ago? Joshua could barely stand straight under the intense wind like a giant trying to crush his mind.

"Shiva? That's it, we need to save Eri with Shiva!" Neku gripped Joshua's hand and prepared to run away.

"Wait!" Joshua hesitated. This couldn't be so simple, he thought. Something seemed to be out of place… "How about Megrez then? Do you really think we can do them both at the same time? And haven't you know about intelligence singularity from Fumi?"

"So you know about the crap she said then… How can I stand back and watch Eri die! Alright, you stay here, and I'll go save Eri! I don't have the time to argue with you right now! Fenrir!" Summoning his demon, Neku sprinted away from the highway.

Joshua, still standing at the opening of the fence and overwhelmed by the ever-intensifying wind, did not know what to do. I alone am enough… All others are not needed… He reassured himself that Neku could not be brought back here, and that he didn't need Neku to finish Megrez.

If he could have foreseen what would happen, however, he would have regretted this decision from his heart.

 **Wednesday, 17:40, Nagoya Atsuta Baseball Stadium, 0.300145**

The reactions of the summoners, all racing against Megrez on an abandoned truck, upon seeing the eight death clips were no less subtle than those from Neku and Joshua.

"Hibiki… and Daichi… why… Hinako?!" Io was in shock when she saw Hinako running away. "Where are you going?"

"To save them, obviously. You stay here and protect the others!" Hinako did not turn back.

"Are you crazy or what, stupid Hina?! You know what that's about?" Airi was about to go for her, but she was stopped by Jungo.

"That's too dangerous… You can't go…" He grabbed onto Airi's hand unyieldingly.

"That's right. I know what I am facing, but still… I want to take revenge over Keita… What happened two days ago, I can't let it happen again!" With these final words, Hinako could not be found anymore. The atmosphere became a terrifying silence, and not even the wind flowed. The dark sky was pressing upon the ground, and the gravity grew every instant.

Otome approached Io from behind and whispered to her ears. "Don't worry about Hibiki. He will be fine."

"No… that can't be fine… what should I do? Someone, tell me…"

"Are you done with that?" Airi suddenly slapped Io. "You're always mumbling and worrying like that without taking any real actions! If you are so worried, then just go for them!"

"Airi!" It was Ronaldo. "That's enough! Megrez is approaching!"

"What Airi just said has a point, Clicky." Joe patted Io on her shoulder. "If she's so preoccupied with it, then she can't really concentrate on the fight. We may as well let her go for her friends. Moreover, we are sufficient for Megrez, right?"

"That's right! We…we are not as weak as you!" Airi blushed slightly.

"Or, if you're worried, I can come with you." Otome said. "My Sarasvate isn't effective against Megrez, so I can spare myself to come with you. That said, is it okay for me to go too, Ronaldo?"

Ronaldo hesitated for a moment. "Go now. We don't need any more deaths. Hagen!" Ronaldo said.

"That's right! If we can prevent Hibiki's and Neku's deaths yesterday, then we can also do this today! If you die, then I will not forgive you!" Airi pushed Io away.

"I got it now… I won't stand back anymore! Thank you… and be safe…" Io jumped down the truck. Before going away, she took one more glance at her comrades: Jungo was holding Airi in her shoulders. Joe was bending down to catch a clear vision of the Septentrione. Ronaldo, in the drivers' seat, was shouting on his phone. They looked like five rays travelling through the darkness of despair. She forced herself to remember their smiling faces, taking it as the light to illuminate her when she was scared again.

Had she known that this would be the last time the six could be together like that, she would have it engraved in her memory even more deeply.

 **Wednesday, 17:40, Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, 0.297154**

"Huff…huff… Where the hell is Hibiki? He's always so…" Daichi muttered to himself as he continued his blind search.

He entered the Ocean Theatre. It was a wide stadium, with a pool in its center. He recognized the beige stones surrounding its edge. He felt the hustling wind reverberating in the stage. He remembered salty smell of sea water diffusing into his nostrils. All of these recalled his memory of being here before.

His parents took him here when he was very young. – the splashing as whales leapt across the skin of the water, the whistling as trainers in flashy clothing shouted their orders, the cheering as the audience totally immerse themselves in the performance, all the sounds were still resonating in his mind like it was yesterday as he glanced through this now deserted stage. It was a distant memory, and yet Daichi couldn't help depressing over what has happened since. He sauntered to the center of the stage, already caught in the mist of reminiscence.

Water was an element of clarity, but whatever magic power that the pool once should hold was nowhere to be found. The heavenly azure disappeared, and now the sediments clouded the water like malignant tumors spreading. You could neither peer through it to the bottomless pit of the pool, nor saw the reflections of the celestial sky above, just like how any pondering of the past and foreseeing of the future were enshrouded in the mist of doubt. And beyond the horizon of the mist, a silhouette was rushing towards the stage.

"D-Daichi?!" It was Hibiki, standing on the edge of the pool, his mouths opened out of astonishment. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Hibiki? Shouldn't it be me who's asking you this? You just ran away as if you've been possessed! Do you know how much trouble I had while seeking you back?" Daichi stopped his recollection and shouted in fury. Hibiki, like an anchor, kept him in the present. "Anyway, let's get back now-"

"Not yet..." The hissing sound of Botis suddenly appeared behind Daichi. Before he could do anything, his arms were already seized by the viper, and Daichi could felt his flesh being torn apart by his scaly claws.

"Botis…!" Hibiki gasped, quickly raising his phone out.

"Stop." Before he could do anything, Botis pointed his blade towards the abdomen of the hostage. "If you are doing anything stupid, I can't guarantee the life of your dear friend. Now, drop your phone to the ground. NOW."

Hibiki dropped his phone to the ground, resisting the anger surging out of his mind to summon Byakko. Botis was serious, and if he did any step wrong, Daichi could…

"Raise your hand above your head."

Hibiki raised his hand above his head.

"Stomp your phone with your leg."

Hibiki raised his legs and… he hesitated. His phone was the sole source of fighting power. If his phone was gone, then he was nothing but a regular citizen who could do nothing against the invaders. His phone was also the sole source of the chaos, and one side of him wanted to stomp the very creator of this trouble; however, another side of him kept repeating to his ear that if he lost his phone, then he could do nothing to protect his friends. Daichi would be…

After a second of thought, he slam his legs on the ground, lifting up, slamming down, again and again, until the spark of his broken phone was blistering his shoes. It was gone, the sole hope of humankind to survive the ordeal.

"No, Hibiki! Just ignore Botis and kill – argh!" Daichi was hurled to the ground by Botis. His cranium collided with the spur of a piece of artificial stone, and he could feel a surge of warm liquid dripping out of his right forehead, before a wave of agony from his right eye robbed his ability to think.

Pressing his right hand onto his right eyeball, he attempted to stand up, only to collapse back to the ground again.

"You're obedient this time, Hibiki Kuze. You seemed to have understood the fact that your very existence is the cause of all the mayhem around you."

"Why… why this again…!" Hibiki hissed.

"Yes. It's exactly like the Yamanote Lockdown seven years ago. Don't you think so?"

"Yamanote… The Yamanote Riot?"

"The correct name is the Yamanote Lockdown." Botis cast a deadly menace on Hibiki. "Now, let the gravity of the correct memory wash through your mind."

Hibiki could feel an intense flux of memories overflowing within the profundity of his mind, almost like stirring his brain matter. He clasped his forehead with his hand, so tight that he could feel his skin being torn apart and the blood soaking his fingernails. It was like being raped in the mind.

He remembered the real Yamanote Lockdown: He was killed on the day before the lockdown started in a massive riot of the Shomonkai. The next day, he found himself caught in the Reaper's Game, and then…

He didn't have any extra energy to sort out what happened, but in the end, only he survived. All others died, one by one, even his partner. Others were eventually resurrected, but their entry fees were gone for good. He couldn't save them. He snatched away the most important thing of all the players while selfishly clinging on his own one.

What's his entry fee? He remembered it was Daichi's friendship. This was spared, but even so, he was letting Botis to break it right now. He was the culprit who brought misfortune to everyone else.

"If you want to save everyone, die here." All a sudden, a blade was materialized before Hibiki. "I give you the dignity to kill yourself. If you do so, I'll spare your friend."

"Is it…?" Hibiki mind was empty. The lustrous blade stood in front of him, like a temptation to bring him out of the anguish. His arms were, slowly, unconsciously, moving towards the blade.

"Daichi Shijima, go now. I have nothing to do with you." Botis turned to Hibiki. "You see I never meant any harm to the others? It's you who're the villain, not me."

"No…!" Mustering his little strength remaining, Daichi attempted to push himself up and crawl his way towards Hibiki.

"You murderer! How dare you blame Hibiki for all these? He's… he's just trying to help everyone else, and yet you…! Kill me…" Daichi was scared of dying – his voice was no stronger than a whisper. However, seeing Hibiki die instead of him was even more a horrifying idea to him. He couldn't bear the thought of killing his dearest friend, however indirectly, without at least any redemption. He raised his voice to a shout. "Kill me instead of Hibiki!"

"Ha… hahahaha!" Botis broke into a cracked laughter. "Seems you've got your bravery back, huh? But let me repeat again: you have nothing to do with this. Get away, or I'll kill both of you!" A flash of shockwave pulsed out of Botis, and Daichi was knocked back again.

"Botis… if I die, can Daichi really be saved?" Hibiki's eyes were gazing without focus on the comatose Daichi, blood oozing out of his hindbrain.

"You should have more knowledge on your wrongdoings than me. You brought forth degeneracy, and if you don't step into our way anymore, we can then find a path towards the halcyon days again."

"I got it… Sorry, Daichi…" Hibiki was smiling. He should have died a long time ago; now, it was time for him to stop himself from hurting others anymore.

He raised his blade to his neck. He could feel the coldness how its metallic edge was about to pierce through his flesh into his blood. Somehow, he felt relieved at this sensation of pain, knowing this was what matched his sin.

"Berserker!"

He dropped his blade onto the ground out of shock. Botis was pressed onto the ground by a demon in wolf's form, his hand pressed onto Botis's arms.

"Keita?! No… it's you, Hinako?" Hibiki recognized the woman standing at the entrance of the stadium.

"What are you doing here? Run away, NOW!" Hinako rushed to her demon.

"But-"

"Just go already! I don't know how long I can hold him, so go away while you can! Listen, you two boys have more potentials than I have. I have nothing but dance, but you two are different – your eyes conveyed your hope. So, before I die, at least let me do something meaningful-"

Botis pushed away Berserker and began to strike back.

"I can't hold much longer. Go NOW!"

"No… just let me die-"

Hinako gave a slap on Hibiki, strong enough for him to back off. "Are you stupid or what? I don't know what the heck happened to knock you in this blue-eyes-of-despair-or-whatsoever state, but you're not going to die for Daichi and Io! Can't you understand what'll happen to them if you die? You can't die!"

"I got it now…" Hibiki stood up. He just needed to save Daichi first. Hinako was the only one with combat power to hold off Botis, so only he could bring Daichi away. He could die, but he couldn't bring Daichi along with him. At least, not until Daichi was save.

He rushed to the place where Daichi's lying and picked up his body on his shoulders.

"Hinako…please, don't die…"

 **Wednesday, 17:45, Nagoya Aichi Geijutsu Gekijo, 0.207591**

Airi could felt the ground crumbling beneath her feet.

Ronaldo had just executed his "Plan B," detonating the bombs laden everywhere inside the JP's Nagoya Branch and causing the ground Megrez was standing on to collapse into a pit, trapping it inside. The shockwave was so strong that everyone could not stand straight.

But more importantly, Megrez had trampled her soul.

The Aichi Geijutsu Gekijo, her memories, her pride, her treasure, all ruthlessly trampled within seconds.

This was the very place in which Airi had her piano audition. She still remembered it as if it just happened yesterday. It was a sunny, cloudless day, and the azure spanned all the way to the horizon. The lime lights shining on her, the music flowing out of her hands, the people immersed in the tune, they were her precious treasures.

But the thing she cherished the most was the smile of her father. He was a dedicated detective, always working away from home to investigate the crimes going on. But once in a blue moon, when he could spare some time with his family, Airi would enjoy the moment from her heart. She could listen to the tales of her father all days, imagining how exciting it would be to fight for justice along with her dear, dear father.

And this was one of the few occasions when her father decided to watch her performance.

After the audition was over, holding her champion trophy at the same time, she let herself fall into the warm embrace of her father.

"Papa? Weren't my performance marvelous?" She turned all her apprehensions stored since a long time ago to her frothy, effervescent chatter.

Without saying anything, he stroked her hair with such a grace that it was like the wind in spring. All these were all like a bubble, refracting the sunlight of childhood into a bewildering spectrum of rainbow, making her monochrome childhood a colorful one.

The fragile bubble of childhood broke when, a year ago, her father literally disappeared from the world.

And now, even the sunlight was nowhere to be seen, tainted in the darkness of the cumulonimbus.

She was worthless. She didn't know what she could do.

She met Jungo when she was in the abyss of her life shortly after the disappearance of her father. He sat silently by her side, listening to her sad stories and supported her with his smile. It was he who gave her the purpose of living again. Despite only four years older than her, Airi felt he was like her father, giving her the strength to live.

And yet, it was impossible for him to replace her father. It would remain that her father was the irreplaceable source of her power.

She felt alone. She wanted others to recognize her like her father, but there was no one who could do so.

She couldn't hold it anymore. She let her tears broke out of her resolute façade. Why… Why you must destroy my place…!

"Airi, what are you doing?! Megrez is progressing! At this rate, we can't…" Ronaldo's order could not reach her mind.

"That's enough… We were just living here as usual, but my families, my friends… I don't care if you are a God or a demon, that kind of thing is not right! I won't forgive you for killing anyone! Get them, Lorelei!"

Gust spiraled around the girl, soaring to the sky, as if it was the fury she wanted the God to hear.

It was a fairy, a soulless fairy sitting on her harp levitating above the ground. Her emerald hair, along with her cerulean, silk dress, was flowing along the wind without any consciousness. Her glowing eyes, covered in her hair, were wandering aimlessly. Her pale, cold skin looked like porcelain, easily shattering even upon the softest blow.

But her strength was clearly in contradiction to her superficial fragility: her hands stroked through the delicate strings, and the gentle music was quickly followed by the fierce explosion of icicles out of the ground, hard enough to pass through the whole Megrez without shattering. Its blood, like a fountain, sprayed to the whole sky like the tattered mind of the girl.

And at the center of the Septentrione, there stood the violet core. Albeit miniscule like a ping-pong ball, the aura emanating through it was unbounded.

"Remiel, put an end on it."

"Baal, finish it."

Meanwhile, kilometers away, Joshua and Yamato were simultaneously giving their final strike.

"Simultaneous core exposure is confirmed!"

"Attack in unison!"

From the phone, Ronaldo could hear Makoto giving her orders.

"Hagen!"

"Anubis."

"Cerberus"

As if synchronized, the three demons pierced through the core at the same time

It was the familiar explosion when a Septentrione was defeated. Brilliant lights in all colors, like aurora, along with the shockwave, spread to everywhere like the emotions rampaging in Airi's mind. She could feel the wind ranting over her skin like spears stabbing her flesh. It hurts. It really hurts.

But finally, the wind ceased.

"I ain't… I ain't crying!" Kneeling down on the truck, she pulled her hat over her eye and looked down, unwilling to let anyone see her face.

"Is this over…?"

Ronaldo and the others had no time to think, as thousands of Megrez buds suddenly dotted their visions, fired in a projectile like raindrops onto them.

Airi did not know what's going on when she suddenly felt a force lifting her away from the truck.

When she landed again, she realized it was Jungo who had just embraced her and leapt out of the truck. Immediately losing his strength, Jungo almost collapsed to the ground if Airi didn't support her.

She felting something wet on her left hand on Jungo's back. She looked at her hand to find it stained in red. "This is blood, right?!"

Jungo returned to his posture and stood up. "I'm fine." He said in a dubiously weak tone.

"Where're the others?" The death clips…

Jungo only turned away from her, and Airi knew what that silence meant. She couldn't believe it, that her comrades fighting alongside with her just minutes ago were…

It's at that moment when she realized the others were missing. She looked around. Beyond the choking soot spreading in the atmosphere, the ground was consumed in embers. No one was there.

It started raining. The sky could not hold it anymore. Quickly, the rain intensified to a downpour. One after the other, raindrops were striking the ground with their fullest forces before scattering. Ironic, wasn't it? The raindrops thought they could damage the ground, and yet their only conclusion was death.

"Hey! You're just playing around? Come out already! This isn't funny! You can't just be dead-"

"A new 'dead face' has been uploaded."

If the previous death clips were shocking, then this one, coming right after the deaths of her friends, would be downright horrendous.

Airi did not have the courage to look at the death clips anymore. If she had done so, she would have known that the death clips were for Hinako, Neku, Shiki, Beat and Rhyme – almost everyone in Osaka and the one who had attempted to pull off a heroic sacrifice for Hibiki and Daichi, too, and she would be immediately taken by the effects of degeneracy.

But even though she didn't, the darkness was already suffocating her. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't save her friends. She was worthless. The thoughts were causing her soul to undergo necrosis.

Her scream of despair, together with the pattering of the rain, saturated in the space until they were absorbed by the void looming from the horizon.


	17. Wednesday's Necrosis IV

**Wednesday's Necrosis IV**

 **Wednesday, 17:45, Osaka Tennōji Park, 0.159493**

Tsuutenkaku and Tennoji Park were separated by hundreds of meters. That's only a few minutes' walk even if you walked casually. However, it seemed like eternity for Joshua, now dashing to Tennoji Park as fast as his untrained legs could allow him to go.

His mind sorted out what had happened: Neku, upon seeing Eri's death clip, went uncontrollable and decided to use Shiva to save her. Undoubtedly, Shiva was the cause of their death clips. Expected, he thought – If that mad God almost killed them before Alcor's intervention two days ago, then… he expected the worst to happen.

He didn't need anyone. All others are undependable. Even Neku, his proxy, is like that… holding a new pin, a lime one with the familiar stony, spiked ball in the center, surrounded by gusts blowing from its bottom up to its very tip, he continued as his lungs began racing for breath:

He opened his phone to check the new app Fumi had installed for him last Tuesday. Like how he used to fight by typing in random digits on his phone to summon random objects to bombard enemies from above back in the game – a method he regarded as retarded and yet surprisingly efficient – the software allows him to do so again, but with the attack efficiency strongly boosted. Like the differences between TNT and atomic bombs, Fumi remarked. Joshua knew that was a huge hyperbole, since the real efficiency difference was only like on a magnitude of 10, but that's enough to reassure him that he could now do something more except by summoning all the unreliable demons. Besides, his demons were still being repaired after the fight, so he must try this beta-version anyway.

He couldn't help doubt about the name, though. Such a magnificent app was called "Benzene"? That's, on the contrary, a painful litotes. More like fluoroantimonic acid, he supposed.

His footstep paused upon noticing the soft texture of grass beneath his foot. He had just reached the park. But where are they… Joshua immediately spotted a region engulfed in flames at his 1-o'clock direction. _Hah, so Shiva's that efficient. I haven't expected that_

He expected, though, that the battle was going to be a tough one. _A VERY fun one, I suppose._

"Eri!"

Neku had yet to comprehend the situation going on.

After finding them, he summoned Shiva and defeated Bifrons within the time of a blink. However, Shiva then once again went into rampage. All their demons were defeated as easily as a man stomping on ants.

Shiva unleashed his Pasupata. Eri then immediately pushed Shiki away from the trajectory, letting herself went into it instead. It didn't take long before Neku understood what happened.

He searched around. Eri was nowhere to be found. Shiva's Pasupata could vaporize even the strongest metals… He didn't dare to imagine anymore.

He still remembered Eri's last expression. Pushing her dearest friend aside, her arms were shielded out as if embracing the imminent death. She turned towards Shiki, who was still trying to comprehend the situation, with a smile, not one plastered over her fear or hatred, but a heartfelt one that moved her entire facial muscles. Her lips were moving, as if saying her last "Goodbye."

She pledged to safeguard her friends till the very end only hours ago. Now, the pledge was broken right in front of everyone's eyes.

And he knew that it was himself who brought her death. There could be no denial.

"Rhyme?!" Neku turned to his back to saw Rhyme's legs trapped in the debris of the tower just besides them, piled into meters' height. On her exposed upper body, he could see her closing her eyes and biting her lips in an attempt to stop herself from screaming out of the agony. Beneath the mess, blood was soaking the grass fields nearby in a menacing crimson.

Beat growled, trying to lift away the stones, but he couldn't. "Damn it! Damn it damn it damn it damn it! Why all these hell…!"

He knew it was his entire fault. He came here in an attempt to save them, and yet…

The embers set ablaze from the attack were immediately extinguished by the downpour. The same downpour drenched his whole body, extinguishing his sole flame of hope.

He didn't attempt to dodge the trajectory of the fire ball coming. He awaited the heat to burn through his flesh like a witch going to be executed.

"Neku!" Instead, he felt a force pulling him away. It was Joshua carrying him on his arms.

"Hell… just in time" He sighed as he released Neku out of his embrace onto the ground.

Neku did not say anything, merely letting the rain sharp as blade cool him down. He didn't know what to do – he didn't know what he, as screwed as right now, could do.

"Take this." The Megrez pin flew onto Neku's hand in an elegant parabola. "I guess we need to do what we used to in the game, dear?" Joshua took his hand out towards Neku, his normally mischievous gaze suddenly focused intently onto his former partner.

All a sudden, the memories of the three pins Neku received the day before, which he had been keeping in his pocket throughout the fight, surfaced – the words of "SHIVA" in the death clip were so powerful that he forgot their existence. Maybe if he fought with the pins against Bifrons instead, then Eri…

But were the pins really effective? Did Joshua know this beforehand? Could Joshua be deliberately holding this off until now? But why? Is this another part of his crazy plan?

And, more importantly, how was Joshua supposed to fight? He asked.

"Don't worry about me. I have just received an overhaul in my fight app." It was that undecipherable smile again. What corrupted was being hidden beneath the mask?

Holding all the doubts in his head right now, and knowing that all was gibberish if they were together killed by the God in wrath, Neku accepted Joshua's hand.

Bathed in the holy lights shooting from the heaven right onto them, the traces of them disappeared from the real ground, as though they were ascending to the heaven in the rain of apocalypse.

"Getting used to it?" It was Joshua's voice in his head. Partners can perform telepathy to each other in this mode.

 _Are you expecting me to get used to it after a whole year?! That's really, really considerate of you._ Neku could see his friends still in the RG searching for them, but their outlines were like fading at every instant.

"You need to get the feelings back soon or never. Have fun, Neku~"

 _Like I can have fun with the worst partner on Earth._ Neku held off his doubts towards Joshua. Right now, all they need is mutual trust. All suspicion must be suspended until after the fight, that's the golden rule he learnt in the game.

He looked up at the giant of stories high – that's the demon inside him, one whom he couldn't control, one whom killed Eri just now, and one whom they must defeat. Concentrating his thoughts, Neku channeled his imagination to the newly acquired pins. They were their only hopes right now.

 _Binary fire… is it?_ Shifting his thoughts to Shiva, a fireball suddenly exploded near his toes, flinching the God for an instant before he began to sprint towards the attacker, and delivering the puck to his partner.

 _That… that worked!?_ Neku could not believe it when, days ago, Beat and Rhyme performed the same action in vain. He felt something nuanced about the pins as he began to get used to the combat again – it's like they were empowered by some almighty agents behind the scene. All his powers were suddenly amplified through the pin.

"Or what do you expect? Now concentrate. He's not to be underestimated."

Getting his fighting instinct back, Neku slipped sideways to the back of Shiva with an agile not unlike gliding over the pool of water on the ground, and a flamethrower spiraling up Shiva suddenly materialize from the ground, dancing around like wrathful spirits, and unquenched even under the merciless pattering of the rain.

The moment the spiral began to fade, and Shiva began to restore his mobility, Neku received the puck, and cobalt sparks engulfed him again. _Dark Thunder… so that's how it's like to fight with the abilities of Septentriones?_

"You seem to catch up things really quickly, huh? Good work, Neku~"

 _I don't take this as a compliment if this comes from you._ Jumping backward to evade from the blaze of Shiva spreading through the ground like a dragon dancing, he suddenly let a gust surround him. He received the puck, pushed the gust downward, lifting him up in the progress and, with the gust around his hand like a blade, jumped down, giving a strike on the giant's head before using the reaction force to jump away again, and finally delivering the puck back. All the while, he could feel a surge of vitality seeping out of his body, replenishing his stamina. _Ruinous wind._

 _Tell me, why they are effective, and what you are using to fight._

Shiva let the tip of his golden spear immersed in a glaring inferno and began thrusting it forward. Neku immediately jumped backward in a zigzag trajectory.

"You asked two questions, so which one do you expect me to answer?"

The blazing spear just over Neku's left arm as he leaned sideways. He was confident that his skin would have been liquefied had he dodged the attack by one thousandth of a second later.

… _Whatever! Just… the first one!_

Shiva's attack was relentless even when he created explosions to block the attack with his Binary Fire. He felt the rainwater on the ground soaking his clothes, and the heat from the fire evaporating them at the same time.

 _Basically speaking, they are empowered to have higher efficiencies. This also applies to my fighting app._

Springing further and further backward above the damp soil, Neku could feel his power drained away. He needed to do something… fast.

 _Think it's a good time to use the Circum-whatsoever?_

"I think so. It's a shame for me to admit it, but I can't hold much longer also. It's called Circumpolarity, by the way."

 _You really think I don't know that freaking word?!_ Finally catching a second of breath amidst the endless strike and receiving the puck, Neku channeled his imagination into Merak.

A spiral of blizzard, small as a knuckle at first, soon swelled between the space between the summoner and the demon. The gust, purer than white and softer than snow, emanated a chill that flinched both of them, and Neku had to raise his right arm to cover his eyes just as to prevent them from freezing.

 _For all you have done… die now!_

When the spiral reached the height of the demon itself, it suddenly transformed into a beam, solidifying the water in the soil and encapsulating Shiva within it.

 _That's it!_

The demon was motionless.

"No… it's not over yet. Watch out!"Joshua's voice suddenly resonated in his mind.

The capsule unexpectedly exploded into shards of ice, colliding with each other to give a clear and yet deafening sound, and Shiva began moving once again.

"That's not enough. Such abominable strength… it's not enough for you to redeem yourself!" The roar of the god rang through the atmosphere as he thrust his spears forward to Neku again.

Neku did not expect it, and he could only watch it get closer and closer, until it reached right in front of his heart-

It didn't pierce through him, but was halted by yet another demon - three goddesses, to be exact, glazed in an enigmatic gold and surrounding an obsidian clock. The hands were stationery, not because it was merely a decoration, but because they were halting the very time.

"Norn!" It was Rhyme, holding her gray phone on her right hand, her face aghast in the pain of her crushed lower body.

"You demon… we had our peaceful lives, but you came to rob them away... why?"

Shiva was knocked sideways by the cobalt thunderbolt connected to the three goddesses.

"I didn't have any dreams, and Beat and the others were the only things I had. But even so… Are you satisfied right now? What do you want! Just… get away!" Rhyme was on the verge of crying.

Rhyme had been smiling all the time, but that was only a façade of her emptiness inside. And now, when even the fine exterior was broken, she could hold it no longer.

"Now, die in the endless recursion of fate!"

The hands of the clock suddenly started turning backwards, and three violet rays, casting a baleful light that turned the grass beneath into dust and spiraling all the way until the dark cumuli, encapsulated Shiva. They were rotating inwards, constricting the captive like in an inescapable cell, and boring through his fleshes.

"Rhyme!" Beat attempted to hold his sister in his arms, but he was blocked by a barrier Norn generated.

"Haru performed here just two days ago, but I can no longer feel anything…! All these… I don't want to feel it anymore… let's just end this… now…"

The clock's rewinding accelerated to the point that one could no longer distinguish between them, and the three violet rays merged together to form a single column that annihilated everything within. The rain was vaporized into a layer of opaque mist that seemed to be trying to conceal the rays of despair within.

"I didn't' expect the power of degeneracy to be that powerful…" Joshua said in his mind.

 _What… Rhyme's killing herself, and all you care are the degeneracy?! You…!_

When the impact finally ceased, everything within the column was gone. Beyond the mist that refused to dispel, Rhyme was lying comatose on the ground. Her legs were in an indistinguishable mess, and the blood loss caused her face to be as pallid as a corpse. The rain was still as strong as ever, battering the comatose girl in a thunderous noise.

Shiva was barely standing, holding himself against the ground with his left arm.

"Don't waste this opportunity. Bait him away, and then finish him with our fusion attack." Neku didn't notice their fusion pin was already at level 2. "In case our fusion ends up unsuccessful, we'll finish it with our own."

 _Stop your hypocrisy…! You don't even care 'bout what happen to the others, do you?_ Neku sprang to Shiva with his ruinous wind before retreating, evading every assault with a swift backward jump. Soon, they found themselves to be in a field temporarily used for the collection of corpses.

"It's time. Works for you?"

 _What do you think?_ Clasping his fusion pin, Neku unleashed a storm of meteor bathing all around him in a hell. The rain of water was transformed into a rain of fire bombarding the field, and the grass field was submerged under the raging blaze that was searing his patience along with the surroundings. The corpses piling up on the field were blistering in the midst of the heat, and Neku could smell the nauseating scent of their burning flesh combined with the choking ammonia and hydrogen sulphide.

At last, once the inferno was extinguished, Shiva was gone. Joshua reappeared next to him.

"Good job, Neku-"

"You dare to say something like this?! Eri is dead, and Rhymi is also… If it isn't because of you…!" Neku gripped Joshua's wrinkled shirt, his azure eyes staring right through Joshua's pupils.

"You mean what?" Joshua lost his smile. "It's you who insisted to stick your nose into the fight in the first place. I've told you not to do so, and yet-"

"Then why you knew to use the pins to fight? Why you knew the pins dropped by the Septentriones work? What are you masterminding this time? Tell me!"

"What if I'm really masterminding something? What'll you do?" Joshua's tone was an authoritative baritone, and Neku couldn't help realizing the similarity between Yamato and him.

"You… bastard! Last time, you were planning to nuke the whole Shibuya and killed me twice just to run your plan, and this time, what are you doing? Manipulating me as your partner, saving me as to preserve your pawn, killing everyone else before disposing me so that you could get your crazy wish of wiping out all angels fulfilled? Or pretending to have lost your angelic power while secretly laughing at all humans dying? You haven't changed at all…!" Neku could feel his anger evolving into a miasma that deluded his memories of how their relationships, albeit vitriolic, was trusting and caring. His logic was already completely snapped by what happened to Eri and Rhyme.

"That's what you should be doing the whole time. You shouldn't agree to fight with me on Sunday. No one, including your friends and me, are trustworthy. Devotion to others will only bring you betrayal and grief. Don't forgive me and do what you want-"

"Now you're teaching me a freaking Aesop?! Okay, if you're telling me to do whatever I want, then the first thing I want to do right now is to beat you crap into unidentifiable fragments!"

Neku pushed Joshua onto the ground piled up with corpses and, crouching down to Joshua, started hitting him with his knuckles on every fathomable area. He could feel his hand cracking upon every hit, but he knew that didn't matter, since Joshua was also enduring the same pain, the pain he inflicted on Eri, on Rhyme, on Shiki, on Beat, on himself, on every human he hurt.

"You monster! Why don't you die instead of all the others? Why don't you… die now! Nope… I can't let you die now… You can't die so easily!"

Joshua gave no response. He was almost static, but how he was biting his lips suggested he could feel the pain. Neku didn't care about this – he deserved it.

"Why don't you try to resist me at all?! Don't you always like to give me a lecture? Answer me!" Neku did not notice the sheer horror engraved on Joshua's body. Every single muscle of Joshua was convulsing out of fear. His deranged eyes were fixated on his partner, and his pupils were dilated much like a dead corpse. His mouth could not be closed even when the frigid, bitter raindrop fell into his throat, freezing his instinct to fight back.

Neku didn't take count of the time, but when he finally felt exhausted, the sun was already set. The moon was veiled behind the cumuli, and soon the entire park was enshrouded in the haze of darkness that seemed to extend forever.

With a final shove on Joshua to the ground, Neku walked away into the darkness until his entire body was engulfed within.

Joshua did not move. He continued to lie motionlessly on the pile of corpses.

He was tattered everywhere. A layer of liquid, hot, and yet cold at the same time, covered his body. He didn't know whether the liquid on his face was the rainwater or his tears.

The maggots on the corpses were burnt into charcoal, and they dotted everywhere Joshua could see. They were legions of abominations trying to crawl onto his body, devour him bit by bit, and finally reducing him to one of the bodies below. They were trying to take revenge on how he allowed his people to die, one by one.

As the Composer, he should have been able to spare their lives and give them a fruitful life. And yet, all he could do was to bring them demise.

No, he had to keep reminding himself that they didn't matter. He needed to detach from his people so that his guilt wouldn't overwhelm his logic.

And that's why everything he could see was trying to seek retaliation. What Neku did was right – he was a heartless monster who could kill his friends, however indirectly, without a frown, notwithstanding the fact that his actions are completely justified.

The rain intensified. Raindrops battered his body and created a dissonant symphony that was prying upon his weakness that he hid in his heart all along.

Seven years ago, when he ended up killing Fumi in the Yamanote Lockdown, the symphony was exactly the same.

The corpses piled up on every space he could spot. Maggots, flies and other detritivores crawled around and enjoyed the feast. The ground was soaked in a layer of crimson that blended with the bloody sunset. It was raining, and the raindrops were striking the earthly beings mercilessly.

Fumi was lying on the ground, her white cheongsam adorned with the scarlet seeping out of her body, and her paleness indistinguishable from the uncountable bodies beneath her. In front of her, there stood Joshua and Kitanji, his partner, also covered in trauma and blood.

"Hey… why don't you kill me now? My partner's gone, and it won't be long before I follow him." Fumi gave a powerless chuckle.

Joshua pulled out his phone and tried to unleash his attack, but he hesitated. "You're giving up right now? Don't you even attempt to find other ways to survive-"

"Don't you want to survive? Better the devil I know, huh." Fumi's voice, together with the rays from the heaven, was fading every second.

The mission given to players today was to kill at least one pair of other players or reapers. What they didn't know, however, was that every reaper was also required to kill at least one pair of players in order to survive. As a result, the UG was turned into a merciless battlefield the moment the mission was announced. The Holocaust in the UG was even more severe than the murder in the RG caused by uncontrolled demon tamers who abused the COMPs to commit every fathomable crime. It was only the end of the fifth day, but only 9 players, including the dying Fumi in front of him, survived. Her partner was dead when he tried to protect Fumi from an ambush, and Joshua and Kitanji barely managed to kill the reapers in time.

"There're no other options. We have to do it, Josh." Kitanji said.

"The composer's really a lunatic, ha." Joshua finally gave up. He could feel the burden of the Shomonkai to bring salvation to humanity pressed on his shoulders. He was supposed to be a savior, but he now needed to kill other people merely to continue on his sinful existence. How ironic, he thought.

"I agree with you. The world's crazy – every human is crazy. If how all people stained their hands red is not the best proof of their selfishness, then I couldn't conceive a better proof. Maybe death is not such a bad thing, I guess." Fumi's body began to disappear.

Kitanji delivered his coup de grâce. Her body dissolved into sparkles, blown to the sky by the gust, until they too was gone to the distant firmament.

"Let's go. There're no other options."

History was surely repeating itself. Seven years ago, he killed Fumi; seven years later, he let Eri and Rhyme die and drove Neku to insanity. No matter how much he tried to convince himself he did the correct thing, he still couldn't bring himself to accept his guilt.

He stretched out his arms and closed his eyes, letting his thoughts to be extinguished in the torrential downpour.

 **Wednesday, 17:50, Tokyo Tower, 0.084216**

The fourth Septentrione was gone, and the power of dragon stream was no longer manifesting itself. Tokyo had returned to its original state of ruin, only garnished by the setting sun. Yamato and Alcor stood next to the soaring tower that was even upholding the impenetrable sky, much like two victims taking refuge from the protection of the tower but not two warriors that had just defeated Megrez with a click of hand.

"What do you mean when you just said it's not only your mind that's dead?" Alcor asked.

"My body… I know it now: I'm dead."

"I see…" Alcor embraced Yamato behind, his hands pressing gently onto Yamato's chest. He whispered on Yamato's ear. "Your heart's beating. You're more alive than I am. Could it… could it be Cotard delusion?"

"The delusion in which an afflicted person holds the delusion that they are dead? Nope…" Yamato collapsed onto Alcor's arms. "The feeling's real. It's like… my body's only consisting of my skin and my decomposing interior. What I'm seeing now… it must be purgatory."

"Then, what am I, in your perception? Am I a living being, or do I merely live in your illusion?"

"Hah. A spirit, maybe. You're never a human to begin with."

"It's an interesting hypothesis... Two spirits wandering together in the world turned into a hell… My spirit is disconnected from this body. Is all I'm seeing right now my imagination? When I gradually became more engrossed in humans, am I just playing a game in my mind? But even if humans exist, I can never become one of them – I'm just a Boltzmann brain arising spontaneously as the electrons in my humanoid brain began to fluctuate among parallel universes to form consciousness, a solitary spirit that can only observe humans without actually becoming one of them. My mind… my mind don't belong to this world at all…"

The sun was set. Only unfathomable darkness and the hollow voices of chatter surrounded the now desolate tower.

"Great." Yamato gave a chuckle that was midway between being sarcastic and melancholic. "Now even you're caught in this literary mumbling. I must have died for too many times."

"You mean… during your childhood, when you frequently entered the UG and enforce your order?"

A long time ago, the JP's had not yet invented a reliable technology for RG objects to manifest themselves in the UG. Consequently, the only method for an RG person to affect the UG is by entering it themselves – killing themselves.

"I couldn't rely on you if the Composer of Chiyoda was such a bizarre Septentrione who whole-heartedly embraced a laissez-faire policy." Yamato smirked. He had already gone numb about "entering the UG" after doing so far too many times. He could nonchalantly pick out his shotgun, point it to his forehead, and then it would be only the matter of a click before entering the UG.

"What you just said… it reminds me of Miyako.*" Alcor turned up and gazed at the sunset. "When she became the Composer of Shibuya, she also said something similar, that she will craft a better path for all humans with her bare hands."

"She's my sister after all, so what else do you expect? If it wasn't for the damned seven days, she could have really succeeded." Yamato remembered how he often looked upon his sister as a role model when they were younger. Even when she died out of illness and subsequently became the Composer of Shibuya, she was still devoting herself for the advancement of humankind – even her entry fee in the Reaper's Game was the stability of the whole world. Part of the reasons of his frequent involvement in the UG was that he wanted to work together with her.

"It may really be the case if she wasn't dethroned by Joshua." Alcor's tone softened. "Do you hate Joshua for what he had done?"

"It is impossible not to hate someone who terminated my family." Yamato sauntered towards the tower. "And yet, Joshua was a competent successor. I would do the same if I were in his position. We may not be that different, after all."

"I always believe in the potential of humans. An inhumane Septentrione like me could never be a meaningful member of humans, let alone their legitimate rulers. That's why I allowed you to exert your influences on the UG as a player while resurrecting you every time. Still, in retrospect, you've been really strong since your early ages if you can nonchalantly kill yourself every month only to deal with the UG until Fumi discovered a method to join Reaper's Game in the RG."

"The ruler of Japan must have the realization to face the danger of sacrificing oneself at every instant… although I might have already sacrificed my life long, long ago and is now merely a dead soul who still hasn't given up on his ossified ideals."

"And I'm your fellow spirit straying with you…" Alcor suddenly turned to the tower, his tone heightened and intimidating. "So to speak, Hel, do you come here to collect our souls?"

"Your eyes are sharp, the Star of Death Omen." A figure materialized on top of the Tokyo Tower. Her upper body was a human, but the part beneath her waist was reduced to a dark hodgepodge of flesh. Like an image with inverted color, her skin was indigo, and her long hair pale white. What resided in her sockets was not her eyes, but orbs radiating an ominous emerald glow that was absorbed in the color of the

"Hel, the Queen of the Niflheim?" Yamato followed. "I was not prudent enough to realize your existence all along. Why are you here?"

"Watch out, Yamato." Alcor covered Yamato in front of Hel and levitated up. "Her target is you."

"If you understand my purpose here, then why can't you understand what our majesty is doing?" Hel cracked into a voice much like the abrasion between metals. "Our world is dying, and it needs to be reincarnated once again. The cycle of life and death is unbreakable. Then, why you two still decide to resist the fate?"

"My fate… however dead I might be, I won't let myself under your command!" Yamato extended his arms out, and soon the power of the dragonstream filled the entire area in an azure light.

"Or so you think." The glow from Hel's sockets became brighter and brighter, until it blinded even the eyes of Yamato. When it finally ceased, Yamato opened his eyes again, only to see the surroundings were no longer the Tokyo he was in. It was an endless tundra battered in an implacable blizzard that stretched far beyond his eyesight. The surroundings was in a perfect darkness, expect for the glow from Hel. An insurmountable chill immediately crept in his cloak into his very mind.

"Seven years ago, your failure doomed the world. Seven years later, you put the world under jeopardy again. Your inanimate soul may as well rest in this haven of death, Niflheim." Hel stared down at the two guests, her look condescending like a queen on sinners, and predatory like a snake on its preys at the same time.

"Seven years ago?" Yamato struggled under the cold to maintain his posture. "What are you planning to do?"

"Hah… you've forgotten it. There's enough time for your fellow star to tell you what you may have forgotten, anyway – in fact, far more time than you two may ever want. Alcor, let me ask you one final time: will you join our cause? There's no other way to stop the world from its inevitable degeneracy."

"No. I reject your notion that the imagination of humankind can stem no hope." Alcor looked up with almost the same power as the god above. "Even though… even though I didn't belong to this world, even though we were on the verge of decimation, I still want to see how we tattered souls could reach our conclusion."

"Just as expected. Very well, I suppose you can reflect on your ideology when you wander through the Hel endlessly. I look forward to your change in mind." Before seconds, Hel could no longer be found, and, along with her, the only source of light. The realm of the dead was now engulfed in an impenetrable darkness.

"Seven years ago…? Alcor, what're you hiding from me… ugh!" Yamato could no longer support his body under the irascible blizzard, only managing to hold onto Alcor's shoulders before collapsing.

"Yamato, are you all right?" Alcor warped his arms around the victim in front of him.

"Niflheim, the land of the dead… might as well be an appropriate tomb for someone like me…"

"This is no good… Hang on, Yamato. There must be an exit somewhere." Alcor summoned a luminous orb and looked around. Everywhere was the same spurs and valleys devoid of life and energy. He doubted whether they could really leave this crazy place.

The eternal night has unfolded.

 **Wednesday, 17:55, Nagoya Kinjo Futo Route, 0.003912**

"Hibiki… Stop now… I… can't continue…" It was Daichi, his voice trembling and barely audible.

Hibiki lowered Daichi down. Kneeling down to take a breath, he laid him down on his knees. Botis should not be able to find them anytime time soon, now that they had already run away for about 10 minutes, he reckoned.

Daichi was marginally conscious. He pressed his hands on his right eye, but his entire right face was still encapsulated in a bloody mess. A surge of warmth diffused into Hibiki's thighs at the place where Daichi's hindbrain rested on. He couldn't convince himself that what just happened was real but not merely a nightmare.

The fourth day was coming to its respite. The last traces of the sun echoed on the sea along with the dwindling breeze, forming a golden canvas that could be erased at any instant. The left half of the highway in front of him collapsed into the sea, and the remaining was devoid of any vehicles. It was too picturesque, almost like it was only his illusion.

"A new 'death face' clip has been uploaded!"

It was the death clip of Hinako on Daichi's phone. His logic told him not to go back, as they were entirely defenseless without any demons now. This tormented him, about how he could only sit back and watch Hinako sacrifice herself while letting this two wimps live.

He tried to organize the memory brought back by Botis. Seven years ago, Daichi and he died during a massive riot. The next day, they found themselves in the Reapers' Game, concurrent with the Yamanote Lockdown. He was teamed with Yamato, and Daichi with Io – coincidental or not, everyone he knew during the Yamanote Game was his comrades right now. Maybe the Yamanote Game empowered them to summon more powerful demons, so ex-players could have a higher chance of surviving right now.

They fought not only with the standard pins, but also with demons from COMPs that caused all the uproar in the RG. The UG was gradually aroused into a massive uproar, too, as the mission gradually turned to be more and more disturbing. On the first day, it was to meet your partner and reach 104, just like in any other game; on the second day, to distribute 100 COMPs in a shop; on the third day, escort the devil's fuge to the teenager named Kazuya and protect him in the fight with Beldr, a mission that caused numerous deaths out of its perilous nature; on the fourth day, spawn demons in the RG to kill 10 summoners; on the fifth day, kill a team of reapers; on the sixth day, kill Belial along with any people near it, on the final day…

Anguish as if being stirred with a knife inside out was triggered in his mind. Some pieces of memories were not recovered yet.

He still knew, however, that the UG was slowly driven into brouhaha as worse as the RG. Conflicts, distrust, hatred, murder… he watched all the people slowly driven to insanity, while he alone was left intact.

Was he supposed to die along with all others?

He could not remember exactly what happened on the last day, but in the end, only he survived. He felt he had done something crucial.

Still, it couldn't be justified how he was given the privilege to preserve his entry price – his friendship with Daichi.

Were these memories real? He couldn't believe he was such a villain.

The milieu was stained in the color of scarlet. Seven years ago, the Yamanote Circle was also stained in the color of blood.

"Hibiki… I… I'm probably going to die soon…"

"Daichi…?" Nope. He couldn't have really let Daichi die. It had to be another person.

"Hey… did I look awesome when I tried to save you? Haha… I guess not… I did nothing except causing you to break your phone… I'm such a wimp, aren't I? But if it's you, Hibiki…"

This Daichi… it may look like Daichi, but he's not _the_ Dachi he knew. This boy leaning on his knees must be only an impostor. The real Daichi must be hiding somewhere else, prying at him, and then jumping out in a warm embrace, shouting "Hey! Just a joke!" He couldn't have hurt the real Daichi.

"Daichi… where's Daichi?"

"Hey…! I'm here…" Daichi's grasp on Hibiki's hand tightened.

"You aren't. You looked like him. You sounded like him. Everything about you is like him. But you aren't him."

"Nope… Look at me, please! I'm the Daichi you knew since childhood! No… this can't happen again!" This was just like his deceased mother who was inflicted with Alzheimer's disease and couldn't recognize anyone familiar to her. He didn't want to dig out those lost memories buried deep down the fissures of his mind, as though his memories were concealed in a barrier of glass that could shatter at the slightest pressure.

If anyone he knew could not recognize him, was he still "he" or just a nameless person?

Hibiki remembered a rare psychotic disorder called the Capgras delusion, a patient inflicted of which would believe that the people around him could be imposters. This was a rational explanation of his belief, but it could be equally caused by Daichi really being imposed. If Septentriones could hold a human form like how Alcor did, then would it be far-fetched to believe that another Septentrione could be imposing as Daichi, finding a chance to snipe everyone down? Or, as some pins harbor the power to create illusions, could Daichi be an illusion generated by some reapers in the UG that was trying to tell him something?

These thoughts ran through his body like a high-voltage spark that caused his muscles to quiver, dropping the body of the person on his lap onto the ground.

"Tell me where's the real Daichi! Tell me now!" Shaking the barely conscious Daichi on his shoulders, Hibiki didn't notice the droplets disintegrated down his eyes.

A pigeon landed on the fence opposite to their side and casted a curious glance onto them, not unlike a god intrigued by the humans. Its sound of "coo-coo" could not reach their ears.

"Hibiki-san! And Daichi-san too! Are you okay?" It was Io and Otome, hurrying towards the two partners, in the direction where the sun set.

"I'm glad you two are alive… Hinako told us you two fled, and she…" Otome fell into silence. She couldn't spit out that dreaded word.

"Wait… what happened to Daichi? He's… we need to get him back now!" Io said.

"It doesn't matter, Nitta. Whoever that person was, it isn't Daichi." Somehow, Hibiki could recognize Io and Otome perfectly normally, and the only one he believed to be an imposter was Daichi.

"What…" Otome approached towards Daichi and bent down. "No good. Severe blooding in eye and hindbain. He's dying. Hibiki, what do you meant?" Otome attempted to keep her voice as steady as always, but her thoughts were growing hazier and hazier. She was in a headache, as if someone had just struck her hard with a hammer that could almost knocked her out.

"That person… he's someone disguising himself as Daichi. Every single trait he has is Daichi's, and yet he isn't."

"Is tat… Cap…Cap..." Otome remembered having studied something similar before. And yet, the word was like a spirit playing hide-and-seek with her in her fog of memory, and the harder she thought, the further that spirit fled away.

"Capgras' Delusion? I've thought of that, but it isn't… What's happened to you, Otome? You're suddenly speaking in such a … peculiar manner."

"I'm dine, Hi…" Otome stopped midway. All a sudden, the three figures standing in front of her were also enshrouded in that dense fog. Their voices were muffled, as if they were speaking in water. "Who… who're you?"

"O-Otome? I'm Io! Are you okay?" One of the figures was rushing towards her, like a faceless monster hidden beyond the mist.

She retreated backwards. Every step was like stepping onto nothing. She felt the ground could disappear at any moment, and then… she didn't know what could happen. Would a pair of wings suddenly appear behind her back and let her transverse freely in the sky of freedom? Or, would she land in the paradise, bathed in the warm lights of heaven?

The fence of the bridge was blocking her way. Two of the figures were still chasing relentlessly, their arms stretched out like claws of a monster, and another one was abandoned on the ground, all concealed in that painful fog.

She turned around.

The fog was dispelled on the other side. The sun today was especially large, especially round, especially bloody, like a tint of blood that diffused across the entire sky and stained the unbounded ocean, the ocean that was slowly, tenderly, warming welcoming her.

One single plunge, she thought, and then she could get rid of the fog, the fog that was damning her thoughts.

She climbed past the fence. The sea breeze was gently caressing her skin, dispelling the fog surrounding her. It was cold, but the wind was like a warm spring breeze, the touch of her daughter… my daughter… what's her name? Her name, too, was enshrouded in the fog.

One single plunge, she thought, and then she could be back to her embrace.

She couldn't wait for any longer. The voice behind was calling her, but the voice was blown away by the wind. Her thoughts were getting hazier and hazier. The ocean, yes. The ocean would wash away the haze and clear her mind again.

One single plunge, she thought, and then-

The pigeon, satiated of its curiosity, spread its wing and leapt away to the distant sunset, not leaving even a single piece of feather.

 **Wednesday, 19:00, Tokyo Shibuya Ward Miyashita Park, -0.062931**

Fumi was walking down the stone stairs. It was a dark hall, located under Miyashita Park.

"For whatever reasons, Yamato could not be found after the fight with Megrez. Guess I should finish up the preparation of Brionac myself." She said to herself.

She reached the bottom of the hall, in which there was machines all around, organized in a messy manner that no one except the user could discern their functions.

"There're two candidates this time – Io and Rhyme. The chance's like winning the first prize of a lottery. The safest choice should be taking them both, so choices would be unnecessary. It would be quite interesting to see how they would fight if I give them the luxury of choice, though."

"As for Alioth tomorrow, since Hinako's dead, I'll have Neku control Shiva instead. Parvati, Shiva's wife, will be used to control the situation. Shiki Misaki will be the summoner."

Fumi took out her miniature laptop in her jacket and launched a program. The screen turns black, and only a series of white characters were displayed. The first line was enlarged like a typical heading, and read "Akashic Record: Benzene." Down the heading was a subheading that read: "Wednesday, 19:00, Tokyo Shibuya Ward Miyashita Park, -0.062931." Further down were plain white texts extending endlessly to the bottom of the program, with new characters popping out at a constant rate like bubbles effervescing out of a cup of beer.

"Negative index… that's no good. The expected casualties have been achieved, but everyone's conditions are worsening at an accelerating speed…" she thought.

She halted the program and began to type:

* * *

Footnote for Wednesday:

Fumi Kanno

Expected casualties achieved, but with unforeseen death of Hinako. Effect of degeneracy manifesting at an unexpectedly fast rate. Trauma from Yamanote Lockdown reminisced by various allies.

Hibiki Kuze showed signs of survivor guilt and, possibly in an attempt to alleviate it, Capgras' Delusion. Daichi Shijima's sense of identity jeopardized and self-worth plummeted as a result.

Neku Sakuraba's paranoia worsening. Fell into a stalemate with his partner. Folie à deux may ensue out of Hibiki Kuze's influence. Joshua's trypophobia triggered out of his fear of hurting others once again.

Chief's Cotard Delusion once again induced. Alcor also demonstrating Depersonalization Disorder.

It's hard how anyone could get through the ordeal without the slightest bit of PTSD. Still, degeneracy's accelerating the rate of corruption at an alarming rate.

My schizoid tendency is also intensifying. Allow me to use this place as an outlet to express my own feelings in an attempt to rectify its negative influences:

In the continual attempt to monitor and control the happening, I had begun to lose my feeling of empathy. It was like I was simply a robot plugging in inputs to the console of my surroundings, but not like actually participating in the world. I couldn't feel any connection to myself, to the others, to the whole universe.

Maybe I hadn't recovered from the game at all.

Allow me to retell myself what happened then, lest my memories and feelings run into oblivion: I was once dead in a traffic accident seven years ago just before the Yamanote Lockdown. I was a player in the Reaper's Game in Shibuya, in conjunction to the dreaded week.

My entry price was my empathy. My ability to connect to other things in my mind.

I died in the game. But due to the interference from the Yamanote Lockdown, the game was not declared to be proper. Therefore, I was resurrected after the week.

But my entry price could not be recovered due to my losing the game.

To avoid the pain of dissociation to my community, I went to study abroad. I tried to connect to my boarding family, my neighbor, my classmates, my teachers, everyone. But I can't. I can't even establish my sense of belonging to my new environment. The impact of the entry fee was far-fetching.

Perhaps ironically, the only feeling I left was the frustration of not being able to arouse my feelings.

Ultimately, I decided to devote myself entirely to my researches, which was the only thing remaining to me.

Still, my joy from my research could not compensate for my loss. Day by day, my hollowness in my heart grew larger and larger. Often times, I felt like a loner isolated from the whole world.

I tried to perform researches on human emotions by creating different scenarios to provoke and analyze the sentiment of my test subjects, but to no avail. Alternatively, I tried to neglect my emotional side, but my obsession was overwhelming.

And with the effect of degeneracy, this predicament is only going to be worse. I am not sure until when can I maintain my sanity. I should be able to hold on till this Sunday. Any longer, and I cannot guarantee.

Or maybe I ought to, as scheduled, die on Saturday instead. I don't feel anything towards it – only emptiness. What remains, however, is that I am on the verge of collapse.

Still, I need to continue, to seek a way out of degeneracy, to see whether there is a way to save all of us.

No matter whether it is for me or for the few to whom I can have the vaguest sense of friend.

Everyone is crazy. Latent within everyone's minds are the feelings of incompleteness. In the normal society, where social conventions are well-established and interpersonal relationships intact, the craziness of humans are either confined within the intricate webs of restrictions or mollified by other intimate people; however, once they are all removed, the craziness will then resurface out of the slightest stimulus and then turn into chaos. Degeneracy is merely a catalyst.

We were told to "be ourselves," but can this really work? If we don't repress our ids, which can be unconventional at best and destructive at worst, can we really function in the society? It will only wreak havoc to the others. Out of this reason, we have our superegos to repress our ids. We can't be ourselves if our quintessence is such a disorderly mess.

The remnants of the present world – Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo – are once again consumed by the void. Even though the mass of the Earth is disappearing, I am still standing here, feeling almost no changes in gravity. The curvature of space-time is still the same. It feels surreal, almost like I am hallucinating. However, I know I am not.

Because gravity transcends through space, time, and even parallel universes.

End of footnote

* * *

*The only similarity between this Miyako and Triangulum!Miyako is they are both Yamato's sister. This Miyako is (or was) a perfectly normal human and not some spoiler materials.

And another word, I am dropping out of this project. I'm beginning to think that my time spent on this fiction is ... futile, in the sense that no one is going to read through this. I am a hardcore science student, so my writing skill is definitely subpar to any of those humanities students, and I'm afraid that my work, albeit improved quite a bit (I think) in recent chapters, is still a pain to look at. In case there're actually some readers, I've just posted all of my manuscripts until this (supposedly) wham chapter. Accompanying this is the fact that various competitions, examinations and olympiads are approaching, so I need to dedicate myself to my studies. I may update this fiction again, since I already have a general outline till its very end, but I may not, and definitely not in a short while. My sincere apology to everyone (if any) who has followed through this far.


	18. Thursday's Metastatis I

**Thursday's Metastatis I**

Note: The prologue has been rewritten.

Recommended background music: Morphogenetic Sorrow (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)

watch?v=EjQfY47pFNs

Warning: Do NOT listen to Hallelujah from Handel while reading the Tokyo Tower part, lest hilarity ensue.

The _ace_ has become the joker

And the _light_ from the sky the tether

The _seventh_ heaven is bleached

And _Zero_ a state to be reached

Demons shall blossom like a _lotus_ flower

As the leaves of the _clover_ wilter

The gifts from _Santa_ Claus are sent

In _June_ , to the sinners who can't repent

 **Thursday, 07:30, Tokyo JP's Command Room, -0.030373**

Everyone was standing in the command room waiting for the new instructions on the fifth Septentrione, Alioth. The whole hall was in a deadly silence, as though everyone was drowning in an impermeable layer of water. It was the limbo. Everyone here would soon be thrown into the abyss of hell.

For the first time in the week, Neku put on his headphones and turned on the music. He had seldom listened to his headphone in front of others ever since the end of Shibuya's Game, when he had understood the importance of partners – a rather ironic Aesop that was seemingly inapplicable right now.

As the lyrics of the song drifted through his mind, his mind was also drifting through yesterday's scenes one by one. Eri was deader than dead after performing a heroic sacrifice on Shiki. Rhyme was still alive – she was nearly dead by the end of the assault, but Shiki and Beat brought her back on time to receive medical treatment. Still, she needed to receive a leg amputation, and it didn't take much imagination from Neku to predict what she would be like when she woke up. Beat was waiting next to her bed all night.

He took a small peek at Shiki. She gave a reciprocal glance for a second before turning away, as if in fear. There could be no doubt that she harbored some emotions – its nature he couldn't pinpoint exactly – to him. She might be resenting him for not being able to rescue the death of her best friend.

He heard from Daichi about what happened to Otome that evening. After escaping her scheduled demise, she suddenly entered an acute decline in sanity and subsequently committed suicide. Daichi's right eye was rendered blind from yesterday's injury, and Hibiki suffered from psychosis, probably due to the mental trauma of all the deaths he couldn't prevent yesterday. Yamato also lost his trace after the defeat of Megrez yesterday.

And Joshua - he was standing at the other corner of the room, turning his back to him, as though both of them had the incentive to avoid the other. He faintly remembered a fleeting flash of horror on Joshua's face when he lost himself yesterday, but he didn't want to care about a bloody, callous Composer anymore.

Or… was he? He had a fleeting qualm that he was being overboard yesterday. In fact, for a moment, he felt like his sudden burst was irrational, a product of a hodgepodge of frustration and grudge that was misdirected at a scapegoat. Joshua might not have done anything wrong, after all. He soon dispelled this thought, thinking that it would not have done him any good.

"Neku… do you know where's Daichi?" It was Hibiki. Somehow he could still recognize him perfectly. He heard that patients with Capgras' delusion could often still recognize other less intimate people.

Neku feared giving an inappropriate answer since he had no prior experiences with dealing with mentally ill patients – notwithstanding the fact that there were no therapists to diagonise his mental conditions.

"Do you treasure the life you currently live? And do you consider your family and your friends precious?" He continued without looking at him.

Maybe he would be better off by engaging in the chat. "Um… yes or no. I don't know."

"I know they are important to me, but… they were all gone. I had a dream. I became a witch-like being and destroyed the world, until there is no more evil, no more sadness, until there's nothing left. I fear… I fear that I will snap the next moment. Daichi promised to be the one to smite me down in case that happens. In this case…"

"Just protect the one you really want to protect until the very end. Period." He was not speaking what he thought - he didn't know whether he should protect the ones he once wanted to protect. However, that's the best thing he could say for now, to a fellow with a similar anguish. "Or, do you want me to be your executor instead?"

"Maybe." Hibiki smiled. "But even the acts of protection… they require miracles. Even if we could save someone from their death clips, they would still…!"

"Miracles aren't free you know. If you wish for something good to happen a whole lot of bad stuff is gonna happen too. I guess that's how the world stays in balance, good bad, everything zeros out. Yeah, I'm insane to suggest that." He was fooling himself again – Shiki, Beat and Rhyme would die either today or tomorrow should Fumi's prediction turned out to be accurate. He was trying to feel like as if he would not be responsible for their inevitable demise.

"No. You're not crazy. I was crazy." Hibiki replied.

It might not be him who was insane. It might be the world that was insane.

"You're insane, for god's sake…!" said a female voice at the entrance. Neku thought he recognized the Reapers Koki and Uzuki.

"We've found our Reason. It's time for us to enter the game." Koki whispered before striding inside, his movements so casual, as if he was just going out of a walk.

Why were they here? It was reasonable to assume that they were also "muggles" in this game like Joshua, but why only at this instant? Why were they unheard of at previous days? He stuck his hand in his pocket in search of his newfound pins.

"Let's get the business clear, fellow players and the Composer as well" Uzuki said, noticing his hostility. "We're merely players like all of you, and we're working our way out of this shit as well."

"I'm Koki." he said. "And my partner is Uzuki. Looks like we needs to hang out together for now, hah."

The room remained silent. No one was in the mood of responding.

"Hey, you hear me?!" Uzuki began throwing a tantrum. "Where is all your respect to a senior like us?"

A metallic voice was broadcast across the room. "The JP's first response team reminds you that an active silence is required in the room so as to ensure optimal performance of our personnel. Your respect to the JP's, the de-facto governmental head, is much appreciated. Should your existence prove to be detrimental to our well-being, we may resort to unconventional methods. Thank you very much for your cooperation."

Uzuki soon shut her mouth.

Just then, Makoto went to the podium at the far end of the room and, after introducing the two unexpected mercenaries, began to make her briefing.

The briefing, lasting for a whole 30 minutes, consisted of nothing remarkable at first - to be exact, nothing remarkable that were not known to them by now. It summarized the events that led to the death and injuries of his comrades yesterday, as well as the sudden disappearance of Yamato. Makoto went through it without a single trace of mourn could be detected when she announced that she would temporarily take Yamato's role as the person in charge of JP's. In fact, he thought he heard her voice shaken ever so slightly and saw her eyes flickering with an unseen brilliance.

Then, she went on to the information on the fifth Septentrione, Alioth. It was an aerial creature that launched its attacks from the Ionosphere. The panoramic monitor displayed a heptagramic creature looming over Tokyo in space. Makoto mentioned that it was targeting Tokyo Tower (which, he reckoned, was probably a conspiracy of the Septentriones – why always towers? It turned out that the tower acted as a barrier to protect the city from being consumed by the "void," which was exactly what it said on the tin. This, however, didn't raise any alarm to them, as they were already too preoccupied with so many other things), and that it was planned to shut down its power to distract it away to other areas.

As for the method to strike down Alioth, Neku would use the Pasupata of Shiva, who was under his possession, to finish off the floating Septentrione. Parvati, his wife, was needed to pacify him, and Shiki would attempt to enlist her help. He reckoned it was similar to the negotiation process used by some unskilled police to get the culprits.

"By the way, get your new pins before you go."

Fumi was distributing pins to the others. She asked him the night before, after seeing his victory against Shiva, to lend her his pins.

"And here's yours, Sakura." She handed him a white pin with a black dragon drawn in a semi-circle. That's his artwork, which he gave to her then. To be exact, that's only half of his network.

"The other half belongs to Joshua. Your artwork is an excellent one that functions the best when two opposite minds mingle together. The chemistry means only you and Joshua are possible candidates." He turned to Joshua, who was also holding a black pin in his hand, apparently lost in thoughts.

Fumi explained the basic mechanics of pins to the others. Pins were a better alternative to demons as a fighting weapon since demons exacerbated the phenomenon of degeneracy. The summoning of demons included sharing your thoughts with demons, which were, in general, unstable and ferocious, and there was no doubt that adverse effects occur to your mentality. On the other hand, by sharing your thoughts with your partner when using pins, your thoughts could be stabilized, and degeneracy mitigated. In fact, just as how two thermal systems could exchange their entropy, a person who suffered from severe degeneracy could also transfer his instability to his partner with a lower degeneracy (she sort of linked the concept of degeneracy and temperature together). However, by virtue of how demons were creatures of very high degeneracy, the entropy could only flow from demons to humans.

She added that while a pin was supposed to be used between two human beings, it was tweaked to be able to be used by either a single person (at a cost of efficiency) or a large group (at a cost of losing your private thoughts)

With the lengthy lecture finally over, Neku prepared to leave with Shiki. She was standing next to him, her hands clasping over a green pin. Her stuffed cat – Mr. Mew as she called it – was still sitting on her shoulder. She had never put her stuffed cat away, even during the earthquake on Sunday, even during the encounters with Septentrione, even during the damned things that happened yesterday. It made Neku wonder whether the cat was somehow fixed onto her shoulder by some variety of glue. Her eyes were swollen and red. She must have cried all night.

But why was she crying over the demise of her best friend? Was it due to how she cherished their friendship? Was she mourning over the loss of someone to talk to? Byt anyway, there was no use. At a time like this, when the entire world was descending into hell, you couldn't have any room for extraneous emotions. He, too, couldn't trust anyone. If anything, he must do everything by himself. That was a resolve he made yesterday.

His phone rang. It was Airi's death clip. She was pierced with giant icicles in this very room.

Within a second, Jungo had already taken hold of her, his hand still holding his new onyx pin.

She shook off his hand. "There's no use, right…? Like what happened to Otome yesterday, right?" Airi said with a plastered smile.

The others were paralyzed, as though merely the message of the death clip make their trauma dehiscent again. Only Jungo dared to approach any closer, and not without a brief pause beforehand.

But she leapt away for the door before anyone could catch her.

"Alioth, that's your name, right? I'll beat you, yes, beat your crap apart!"

 **Thursday, 08:00, Tokyo Tower, -0.030390**

It was here. Alioth was right above his head.

Around him were thousands of people taking refuge in Shiba Park – in the temple of San'en-zan Zōjō-ji (which was tattered under the relentless attack of demons), in the hotel of the Prince Park Tower Tokyo (which was apparently looted and overtaken by the survivors), in Onarimon Station (which was pitch black – the necessary result of a complete blackout), and even in the headquarter of the Labour Relations Commission. Indeed, with such a meaningful and historical landmark that could ignite the ember of hope in the hearts of the less fortunate, there could be no doubt that it was the largest shelter across Tokyo. There were people weeping, shivering, shouting indignantly, talking monotonously fighting with wild demons, fighting with others for food, sitting still like a corpse (and many of them were really decaying corpses left untended), but they were all ragged, filthy, wounded, exhausted and, above all, lifeless. He had to wonder how they even managed to stay alive.

Upon the sight of the comparatively well-dressed outsiders – comparatively, he reckoned emphatically – some of the residents came and asked for food, apparently thinking that they must be part of the secluded government. They knelt on the ground, pleaded with all their remaining might, sobbing lugubriously, attempting to appeal to their pathos by mentioning with all the descriptive details how their friends, spouses, parents and children were suffering, and, when everything else failed, opt for violence. They went berserk and summoned their Legions when Makoto loaded her gun and shot a few of the pioneers dead, but when he summoned his Fenrir to let the Legions back off a little bit, the demon summoners all fled as if he was a carnivorous demon. The troops of gangs surrounding were also dispelled like bees going out to attack an invader, except that the situation was exactly the opposite.

He thoughts the plebeians should have retreated even further given the fact that the fifth Septentrione was looming near. Makoto had attempted to turn off the power of Tokyo Tower, but it was still coming here, and was in fact calibrating its direction towards this largest dwelling area even after the closure. A Septentrione, being lifeless, should not have the capacity of memory, let alone the "urge" to get near this area.

They were coming here to take preventive measures against the impending wave of attack, notwithstanding their inability to attack the hovering creature and to retrieve Airi. Everyone looked up. It was unusually sunny, with all the cumuli gone after the downpour, and they were standing naked under the sun, which was muddy white like a bleached eyeball.

They spotted a figure on the observation deck of the Tower. She was Airi. They had to climb up the staircase – the elevator was shut down, and using avian demons may startle her, causing her to retreat even further. They spiraled up and up, but the summit was getting further and further. The steel stairs gnarled with every step they made, as though the entire tower would be animated as an eldritch abomination a second later.

There she was at last, sitting on top of a creature. It took the silhouette of a pigeon, glittered in an incorruptible white, and clouded the entire observatory in a misty light. Christians might believe it was an angel empowered by god.

"Airi Ban, are you really planning to defeat Alioth with your demon? That's way too rash… come back at once!" Makoto plunged forward, only to be blocked by a barrier of light.

"I can't stop here! I'll die soon… It isn't like you give a shit to me anyway? I'd rather die here than retreat now! With Arael… I'll let you know I'm capable of fighting, unlike yesterday…! Just look at me! Look at who I am!"

"Take it easy, Mako. This demon is no less powerful than your Pallas Athena, and it specializes in long-range attack. The chance is probably something like… two to the power of two hundred and sixty-seven thousand seven hundred and nine to one against, but why don't we just stand back for a while and see what she can do?" Fumi said.

Just like Fumi, Neku thought that it might be a bad idea to attempt to retrieve Airi after all. The Tokyo Tower would be doomed otherwise, and who knew whether she could actually succeed? There was a saying like a 10% chance is pretty unlikely, but everyone knows that a one-in-a-million chance is a sure thing. He wasn't certain whether he could be this nonchalant if the target concerned was Shiki instead, but it was another issue.

It was at this moment when he remembered that Fumi told him Shiki would die later today. Thus far, her predictions were accurate. The implication was unfortunate.

She leapt down. She was hovering around the tower. The feathers of the demon were glittering under the sun. For a moment, he saw her soaring up to an unfathomable height. She was soaring beyond the tip of the tower, beyond the cloudless stratosphere, beyond the ionosphere, beyond the satellite Septentrione in the space, beyond the sun, until she disappeared in the gulfs between the stars. She couldn't, for the air pressure in her body would have caused her to explode otherwise, but this imagination flashed in his mind.

Dozens of light beams were shot from the wings of the bird demon through the sky. It's remarkable for really obeying the laws of physics, as Arael actually recoiled, thus maintaining the conservation of momentum. More importantly, he couldn't see any of the beams – a laser ray couldn't bend to reach his eyes midway – and the only clue he knew that the laser was charging was how the luminescence of the wing became almost blinding at several localized areas. Apparently, the white light diffusing out of its body earlier on came from phosphorescence, and the ray attack was a mixture of red, green and blue lasers, which mixed together to give the color of white.

How a straight ray of light could hit a target thousands of miles away with absolute accuracy, though, was another question, but from the display on his phone (which had been inexplicably connected to the output from a JP's satellite in space), a beam targeted Alioth and annihilated one of their satellites. The chance, as Fumi insisted, was two to the power of two hundred and sixty-seven thousand seven hundred and nine to one against.

Neku had faith in the fact that demons could screw with the laws of physics. And thus, it made sense when he heard that Alioth, whose very existence was a blatant contradiction of natural laws, was not scathed for the slightest bit. The gigantic, scar-like object didn't even recoil a bit, which meant either it was so massive that the effect was negligible, or it outright broke the law of conservation of momentum. Of course, provided it was a four-dimensional demon dimensionally split here, it made sense that it could incorporate the laws of physics from another unphysical universe.

"Damn it! Why doesn't it work?" Airi shouted afar. She attacked again. No effect. "Damn you, bastard! Why can't you just die?"

She might as well grudge Rayleigh scattering instead.

Makoto's walkie-talkie raged. "Alioth's attack impending! Its attack pattern is… what the heck is that?!" The image on his phone was all at once covered in a bright white light. He was correct in believing that it did not obey the laws of physics, for it undoubtedly violated the law of light travelling in a straight path.

"Direct all electricity sources to the Tokyo Barrier at once! This is not a drilling! Repeat, direct all electricity sources to the Tokyo Barrier at once!" Makoto said.

He imagined seeing a translucent screen materialized around the observatory. Airi was outside the screen, still riding on her Arael.

Jungo was about to seize Makoto, but with an unexpected agility, Fumi glided to Jungo's place, shot a tranquilizer gun towards his carotid artery, and pressed him onto the ground with a power parallel to this giant until he gradually faded into oblivion.

"It would be for his best not to view the upcoming scene." She said while laying him against the wall. Jungo was clearly attempting to disable the barrier to save Airi, and that, while ill-advised, was not preposterous.

What Joshua did, on the other hand, struck him as inexplicable: he dashed down the observatory. For a moment, Neku could saw a blink of indignation in his eyes.

"Hey, what're you doing?!" Standing afar from Hibiki, Daichi followed Joshua before Makoto could shut down the exit.

For a moment, no one chased them. Neku didn't out of abhorrence, Hibiki out of despondency, Io out of terror, Shiki out of disorientation, Beat out of poignancy, Uzuki out of disdain, Koki out of intrigution, Makoto out of utilitarianism and Fumi out of plain disinterest.

Then Hibiki raised his hand as if to catch Daichi, only to realize it was too late.

At length, Makoto spoke. "They're safe as long as they're in the tower, but at any rate, it's coming. Fend yourself, and concentrate the power of your pins onto the tip of the tower."

He concentrated his mind. The next moment, he saw a light pouring out from the sky.

There was a terribly ghastly silence.

There was a terribly ghastly noise.

But the terribly ghastly silence didn't come. The noise continued. The bright white light pervaded his vision as if the bleached sun was colliding into the Earth.

A noise was in Neku's head - in the few centimeters of space within his cranium. It was technically not even a noise; flashes of lines bombarding his brain for a millisecond before abruptly fading out would be more appropriate to describe it.

"Why… you do this?"

He remained silent.

"Why… you try to stop me?"

Who are you?

"Can't understand… Why can't you allow us to restart?"

You are Alioth.

"What's in a name… that which you call me? What's in an existence… that which I pop into? What's in a world… that which you protect?"

I don't protect the world now. I protect myself.

"Is it?... Let me understand… by looking inside you. Please let me look inside you."

Wait, how are you speaking to me? Why are you speaking to me? Most importantly, why are you speaking in such a chunk of retarded staccatos, unlike another Alcor who can at least speak in a humane way?

"From the bond with my presently dead fellows, I seek… for the reasons why I am here, and why you are here…" The voice hesitated. "Allow me… to acquire the language for now, for I was born mere minutes ago."

Just yet another spontaneous creation of a boby Boltzmann brain who's still acquiring the language, huh… wait, it's really something for you to learn a language so quickly. The computation speed… that's amazing.

"Is… is learning a language that difficult? It's like… the grammar and vocabulary just popped into my mind spontaneously…"

Yeah, that's a good question. There's no single theory in language acquisition. There's social interactionism - language arises from social interaction between children and parents. There's the relational frame theory – operant conditioning in the form of inherent reinforcements bolster the learning process. There's also the emergentism – language arises from a complex interaction between biological pressures and the environment. But if a Boltzmann brain like you could do so… then all these theories must be discarded. A Turing Machine is complete, but… well, you asked the wrong person.

"Then, can this be related to how I learned from the thoughts of that girl there?" An intuition told Neku that he was referring to Airi. The "intuition" was probably a visual signal from Alioth. "I'm analyzing how humans think, and that girl proves to be the most interesting one. So to speak, can you also assist me by letting me learn more about you?"

Hold on. You ARE prying at Airi's thoughts? And aren't you supposed to kill us in a giant ka-boom? The tower was still enshrouded in a mist of violet, and there could be no doubt that the barrier was blocking some kinds of invasions.

"Yes. I am ordered to eradicate humanity, but before that, I want to know the reason why you persevered. I found some footage of an orange-haired girl in a robot having her mind studied by a creature similar to me named 'Angel,' and I was trying to replicate this scene to help me gain more knowledge. The light I saw was merely a decoration - I can read your mind just as well without it, but I'm not sure whether this can create some unknown psychological effect. So to speak… why is the girl screaming in pain, just like the orange-haired girl in the footage I remembered? Have I… have I done something dangerous to my test subject?

You can acquire a language to this fluency in several minutes, and you can't even appreciate the psychological damage your act's causing. That's weird.

"Psychological damage? Well then, I probably need to find a way to bypass it before I can understand what you're thinking. Hold on… I guess I'd just redirect her thoughts to you."

Neku could immediately understand how crooked up that infant Septentrione was.

Airi was shouting. He couldn't hear her voice, but her thoughts bombarded his brain like a relentless chain of bullets. I don't want the doll. I've grown up. Look at me. Don't look at me. This isn't me. Don't come near me. I can live by myself. She was cowering, screaming at her highest voice, tattered from head to bottom by an unseen force, barely responsive – again, they were all merely his intuitions but not his physical senses. Saying she was raped mentally would not be an overstatement.

He didn't know what psychological dysfunction she was facing, but judging from her traumatic behavior, it was probably something that warranted attention.

"I can't understand it. Even if the psychological activities of humans are so convoluted, why are they so scared to admit their inner thoughts?"

He couldn't think of any response. The light was blinding. Something was trying to turn his brain inside out, only to find his brain already devoid of anything.

"It is impossible for me to go against my mission. Your world is to be recreated into a better one, and the doctrine of my kind cannot be violated. On the other hand, you piques me, just like that girl named Airi."

He remained silent.

"It's unsensible for me to say this, but please give me a moment to think first. Ironic as it seems, whatever happened to my younger brother is now happening to me. I know that I will be defeated once again if I can't make up my mind. Still, that's my choice."

The light was gone. For a moment, he was submerged in total darkness. He looked up. The relentless sun was still hanging on the other side of the sky. Before he realized it, Hibiki was holding him on his arms.

Then, he realized that a surge of dizziness had stricken him – he felt that his blood was withdrawn from his brain for a moment. He thought the contact also lasted for nearly four minutes, and brain cells would die after a lack of oxygen for four minutes.

If he had really grown insensitive over the course of the last four days – he conjectured amygdalae had been burnt out - then why was he still afraid? He had no qualms when the voice of Alioth was first heard, when the torrent of Airi's thoughts flushed through his mind, and even when the nascent eldritch being stated his blue-and-orange morality so clearly, but he knew he was afraid of something intangible.

He held himself up against the railing on the periphery of the platform, gasping, sweating, and trembling ever so slightly. Shiki would die. Would she go through this anguish also? And Joshua. Did him deserve an apology? Should he come back into terms with him after the Alioth ordeal was over? The sun light was freezing.

There was first an abrupt pull and then a stroke of warmth. If the pull came a second later, he would be vaporized in a ray of light. The greeting from Airi was surely brusque.

To put it more accurately, she wasn't Airi anymore. It was half Airi, half Arael. Branches of wings, shining as if they were made of pearl and growing as if they were part of an organic tree, sprouted on her back (this was the result of the law of disconservation of mass – by screwing with the law of this parallel universe, masses could come out of nowhere. Fumi once said something about magnetite, but he thought the law of disconservation of mass made more sense). Her clothings were gone (probably the law of disconservation of mass, but it might be equally likely that they were simply shattered to the atomic level) and replaced by a diaphanous sheath (either law of disconservation of mass again or merely the morphogenesizing of Arael). Her eyes were glowing in a dangerous shade of red (not law of disconservation of mass this time, but probably as a warning of her pernicity, which could be caused by a bleaching effect across her whole body during a biochemical restructuring, given how albinistic she looked).

"Looks like I forgot to tell you that entities can be fused together. It can be demons and demons, or it can be humans and demons. Normally this requires mutual consent, but it seems that Arael has temporarily overridden Airi's mind in an attempt to protect her. Unfortunately, given that Arael didn't start out so stable either, it seems to have destilized their thoughts even further. Rancorous as a pugnacious hybrid like you might be, I guess the enmity is mutual. Quite unfortunate that we don't have the Infinite Improbability Drive." She took out her pin, the Callous Indigo she showed to him yesterday.

But the Airi-Arael hybrid (he called it Eva Airi – he added the Eva part because it sounded badass) was faster.

"What are you, stupid?" Within a second, Eva Airi had apparently teleported to the tip of the tower. Her body glowed in an incandescent white, so bright that he illusioned she was the sun.

But the next moment, she was gone. Her body was pierced through with the sharp tip of the tower. The blood of the warriors who had failed at their pursuit painted the tower red.

A silhouette could be seen levitating in front of them. A middle-aged man wearing a round sunglasses, his mustaches shaved clean, his white shirt and black vest ironed like what you would expect from a white-collar worker, and his smile carefree yet impalpable. He was none other than Sanae Hanekoma.

"She followed her Reason to its limit. So following your imagination isn't always the best thing to do… huh. Well, here we meet again, Phones."

He wondered why the Producer was here. "Who are you, really, and why are you here?" he said.

"Who am I? That's a good question. But, well, it doesn't matter. Just assume that I somehow disjoin myself from the Higher Dimension for now. She sought her Reason by becoming one with her demon. She must have experienced unfathomable anguish and attempted to neutralize – using probably her vocabulary – foreign matters she saw. I come here merely for my own Reason too… although I don't really have the right to own such a Reason, haha."

"What's your Reason?"

"Then what's your Reason? I see that you lacked a Reason."

What's a Reason? He thought. A dictionary would say that a Reason was something that explained why something was the way it was, why someone did, thought, or said something, or why someone behaved a certain way. But the rationale behind why something was the way it was, why someone did, thought, or said something, or why someone behaved a certain way, they were all subject to your thoughts.

That's correct; there could never be a single Reason. Did he break up with Joshua because Joshua was a jackass, or because he thought Joshua was a jackass, or, even more confoundingly, because he himself was a jackass? Did he felt nothing about the violent death of Airi a minute ago because she deserved such apathy, or because he thought she deserved such apathy? Every Reason he had ever contemplated were not without his own values and interpretations. So to speak, his Reason represented himself.

"Great job for figuring out that, Neku. Your Reason is yourself."

But there were still other Reasons that were apparently independent of the observer– why apples fell to the ground, why apples tasted sweet, why apples were produced in the first place. Apples fell to the ground because the gravitational attraction between an apple and the ground pulled it downward; apples tasted sweet because the sugar content stimulated our taste buds in his tongue to generate a sensation of sweetness; apples were produced in the first place because it helped the dispersion of seeds with the help of animals. One common thing about them, though, was that they were built upon the premises of our observation.

Among the myriads of plausible theories in science, the best theory was chosen merely on the basis of "elegance" - which was ironically unscientific – but not on whether it was correct or not. It's because if the theories could all explain the observations accurately, how could we know which one was correct? If a goldfish thought that the world was "curved" because the light transmitted through its glass bowl to its eyes were refracted, how could we discredit its theory? Conversely, if apple trees were not the apple trees we knew, but some simulated computer programs or some incomprehensible divine creatures, how could we know that? Light could be interpreted both as a wave when it exhibited interference and diffraction and as a particle when it exhibited quantization. Two plus two might made four. However, sometimes they could be five. Sometimes they could be three. Sometimes they could be all of them at once. Your "freedom" to say that two plus two made four merely depended on your own definition. The "freedom" to accept the parallel postulate, one of the five axioms upon which the entire system of Euclidean geometry were developed, could also be rejected. In this case, they were known as elliptical geometry, hyperbolic geometry, taxicab geometry and Riemannian geometry, which was even the very foundation of the magnificent theory of general relativity. This was the "freedom" of mathematicians. This was model-dependent realism, a form of doublethink that did not originate from a dystopia, but rather from the very essence of nature.

"You're correct. That's 'relativity,' your own nuanced interpretation. Then, which Reason do you wish to be accepted?"

What's his Reason? The Reason that all humans were born to be deranged, so each of them ought to be put in their own haven, forever isolated, or the Reason that all of these were merely his delusions, a symptom of his own insanity? The Reason that all his halcyon days spent with his friends were merely a fabrication of the intrinsic incompatibility between humans, or the Reason that it was merely his paranoia which was whispering demonically in his mind that he shouldn't give way to all others? He didn't know. Whatever Reason he might have, he would unravel to Polaris at the end of the calamity.

"Sorry to butt in your philosophical discussion, but…, you finally decided to show up, Producer." Fumi said.

"Am I not allowed to show up here, Kanny?" He said.

"Ah, so you know that your identity poses an interesting problem here. There's no problem, just that I'm a bit surprised."

"Are you… are you a being like Alcor?" Makoto said, taking her pin out in a posture ready to attack.

"It doesn't matter."

She was about to attack, but he had disappeared.

His voice lingered in Neku's mind for a final moment. "Pursue your Reason. I look forward to seeing what breakthrough your imagination can wield. Another thing, your best ally might not be the one who you perceive to be."

He glimpsed the scenery underneath. Tiny black dots of people were colliding with each other frenzily like particles in Brownian motion, excited in the hodgepodge of the ruin. More and more of the dots were becoming stationary, and some of them were tainted in a grim crimson. The torture they endured must have been pretty significant over the last few days, or else they would not have exploded like this with just a curious passer-by.

The sun was still shining in his unholy whiteness, as though he was not bothered with them at all.

 **Thursday, 12:00, Statue of Hachiko, -0.061886**

Among all places to hide the seal of Parvati, this was the last place having any relevance to it, Shiki thought.

Sensō-ji was the first place in her mind. She used to go to this temple to watch the Sanja Matsuri with Eri. She liked to pray for good luck and drew a fortune stick – a traditional custom in which you shook a cylinder holding all the sticks (each having a unique number corresponding to a written oracle about your luck), collect the first stick to have dropped out, and interpret the oracle corresponding to the number on the sticks. While Eri always told her not to dwell too much on such superstitions, she felt that she could be more at ease when she felt she was empowered by them. At that time, she didn't know that deities actually existed.

Tennoji Temple was also remarkable with its bronze Buddha statue. She found traditional Indian costumes to have a special aura of tranquility and divinity. Part of the idea for the fasion design competition she had entered earlier was in fact inspired by the Buddha statues. She felt it was too dull for the competition, but Eri reassured her that their skills, when combined together, could make this a feasible idea.

But at any rate, the Statue of Hachiko had absolutely nothing to do with Parvati. The seal was standing erect in front of the Statue of Hachiko in much the same way that UFOs don't.

"… Let's just get this over already." Neku said. He was standing on his left leg, his hands sleeved into his pockets as though he was seizing forcefully at something invisible. He was agitated in much the same way that the Neku when they first met did.

She remembered one day – it was early April, when the lane to school was glittered in the pink petals of cherry blossoms, when the building of the school was lit in a particular white light, and when her legs were sometimes stroked not so gently by the wandering bees – when they began talking about the day they met.

"I'm curious how you feel… the day we met." She said.

"Well… Can't remember much. I just wanted to shut down the whole world at that time. It was so annoying."

"Do you mind telling me more? About your motivation, experiences, something like that? I'm reading such psychological stuffs… You know, it's fine you don't if I cross the border! Um, everyone has their private secrets, right?"

"If you ask… It's like a feeling of alienation, when you feel you don't belong to the world. Someone died… a friend… I forgot everything, even his name… that's six years ago, just before the Yamanote Lockdown. I tried to act on my own, but the others just wouldn't let go of me. They chastized me, ostracized me, antagonized me, treated me as a laughing stock… I just wanted to be alone so that I didn't need to care about the others anymore… Sorry for all the mumbling. I just lost my control a little bit."

"Yeah, it's fine…" She knew that words were not an appropriate tool to understand one's mind, just like how you couldn't comprehend a flower only by its scent. On the other hand, this didn't prevent her from seeing that he was harboring something profound.

"I have all of you as my friends now, so don't worry about it." He said.

"…You scared? I can wait, but we don't have much time." The Neku standing in front of her tried to calm down.

At least he still cared about her, she was the one bearing the responsibility to fight, while she was a much more inferior fighter. She didn't have the right to blame him at all, not when she was the one being protected instead of protecting.

"I'm fine… Thanks. Let's go."

Neku was hesitating.

"Just one thing left… I might as well let you know now. You might die here. Fumi predicted that you would die, and all her predictions were accurate thus far."

She had imagined how she would react when she received her death clip. She thought she would be shaken from head to toes, petrified out of cowardice, and begging others to save her. But right now, she was not appalled at all. After all, who knows whether living is a superior thing to death, especially if one's existence merely serves as a load to the others? Maybe she wasn't fully taking in his words, but she knew this was just part of the reasons.

"That's fine. If Eri's dead, then… I might just follow her as well. Just…"

His phone rang. It was the death clip. She was pulverized in a blazing light, much like her predcessors.

But there was also another mail. Neku hesitated for a moment before typing in his reply.

"Yeah. Death is jus like yet another text message – both literally and figuratively, right?"

"Before we proceed… I just want to tell you that I… I'm…" Neku turned his head aside. She couldn't hear the rest of his words.

"… Okay. Just keep up your streak and live through the remaining days. Don't dwell over it, alright?"

"I won't." She imagined that he muttered the word "I couldn't" to himself. "That's right. I should give this to you."

He handed her the pin of Megrez. Fumi had redistributed the Septentrione pins to others – "to put the eggs in different baskets," she said. Dubhe went to Hibiki, Merak Joshua, Phecda Beat, and Megrez him.

"This is for yesterday's… Take this as a memoir."

She received the pin. It felt warm, and she imagined a voice was telling her to hold on.

"Then, here we go!"

Pointing her phone at the seal, she typed in the activation code.


End file.
